The end of the year is right around the corner which means that new freshmen are coming. As a fellow freshman, I was very worried about everything this year, but I got through it. So I hope to pass my knowledge on to any freshman reading this article. As my final article of the year, I will be giving you advice from one freshman to a generation.

Schedule

You should have a schedule at the beginning of the year on paper which tells you the room numbers. In addition to this, if you already have infinite campus set up, it should be on there as well. Over time you will just naturally learn what room you need to go to just by memory. The school operates on a system of gold and black days and they alternate so each day you have a different class. If you are a freshman, you also have either health or physical education. These classes will be in only one semester instead of both like most classes.

Teachers

Every teacher is different some are good to some people and some are not. Some people say that Duncan is the best for math, and Some say Nelson is better for math. Generally speaking, it is a matter of finding out for yourself.

School Layout

The school layout is confusing the first few times you go around it but eventually, you can see patterns in the rooms and where they are. For example, all rooms with a one at the beginning are downstairs and all rooms with a two at the beginning are upstairs. Also, the school has many shortcuts through to classes easily spotted like the way from the English hall to the cafeteria.

Syllabuses

Most teachers will give you a syllabus on the first day. I would not recommend reading into it too much. Syllabuses are supposed to be every single thing you will do through the entire school year therefore, at the beginning of the year it can be overwhelming. Above all the syllabus is for lesson planning and anything legal.

Relationships

It does not matter whether you have friends or not from middle school. This is where you will gain the friends that you will have for a long time. If you have bad friends at the end then you will have bad friends for a long time. As for love, this is also likely where you will discover someone you love. I am not qualified to talk too much but I can say that you should also be cautious with love.

HIVE

HIVE is your second best friend for school. HIVEs are thirty minutes of anything. You can use it to make up tests or assignments. If you are not missing anything, some people have fun hives like the library which has board games on Fridays. HIVE is also what clubs like STLP or NHS use sometimes to meet.

Chromebooks

Chromebooks are your best friend as you need them for most if not all of your classes. Chromebooks can let you browse the web, and we will talk about that later. You should have them charged in the morning, and it should last through the entire day. Though most people just charge them in a class.

Classmen

There are four classes of students. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors. The most common place to see upperclassmen are either in your electives or the halls. Fellow freshmen will probably be very chaotic considering they just got out of middle school like you. Sophomores are pretty rare to see, but they are usually kind or stressed from studying. Juniors are some of the nicest people though they are often focused on school more than other things. Seniors are usually the most relaxed ones considering how little they have to do in terms of classes. Most of the time you can just approach one, and they will be friendly so be sure to communicate if one talks to you.

Lunch Schedules

We have four lunches and you will be assigned one for your black day classes and one for your gold day classes. A lunch means you go straight from HIVE to lunch. Some consider this the best lunch you can have, and I agree. D lunch is the worst; you are hungry through the entire period, then also you have around five extra minutes of class. Also if you have D lunch right before health or physical education you got the worst end of the deal. B lunch is pretty good since you get a break from class and it is not too late like D lunch.

Clubs

Clubs are fun whether it is a sport like basketball, something techy like robotics or STLP, or community clubs like NHS and beta. I recommend going to at least one club for your first year to just get used to it. Some clubs even have field trips like STLP going to Rupp Arena.

The Internet

If it rains, the internet is not coming on for a while I hate to break it to you. Also, don’t try to use the internet in the gym it will work, but it will be very slow.

The Library

The library is a very comforting place for most people with how it is quiet and the number of quality books that they have. You can get books for both references or for just reading.

Student Hub

The student hub will appear every time you open your Chromebook and will be one of the most valuable tools. It contains the library catalog with a bunch of ebooks and audiobooks, the bell schedule, and a lot more. In addition, it contains links to the jacket journal which is what you are reading right now!

The Web

On your Chromebook, you have access to everything on the web except the things the school blocks. Some people try to bypass these blocks, and I can say that it is not possible at all. The websites blocked are odd sometimes, for example. Epic Games is not. In addition, most things like Disney+ and Hulu are not blocked for some reason.

Spell checking

Most kids use Grammarly and that usually is all for actual spell-checking they do, but at the same time. Grammarly makes you pay for the premium things that people actually have trouble with. There are a lot of other websites but I recommend Scribens because it is exceptionally extraordinary and points out a lot of mistakes, plus it is free.

Midterms

Some day, December will come, and you will be informed about midterms. Midterms are a few crucial tests that you receive 3 hours for. If there is any class, you are not doing the best in you should try your best to raise that grade before midterms. After midterms your grade will reset, and you will have to work just as hard in the next semester.

Useful Websites

I could recommend many valuable sites for every purpose, but I will note the most useful here. AlternativeTo provides alternative sites for things like diagrams and other useful stuff. Desmos is a site that has very advanced calculators that can be used if you need math without a calculator. RAWGraphs can turn a data table from something like google sheets and make it into a very customizable graph. MrFreeTools hosts a lot of other sites that can be helpful for most situations including schoolwork. Sejda is a PDF editor and includes an extremely smooth interface and can work with almost all PDFs.