As the month of September rolled around the corner, students often have mixed emotions about the start of the new school year. Most can agree that freshmen often have fears about starting high school.

Many students get concerned and anxious over grades and how they influence their transcripts. Zoe Mevorah, a freshman, says, “I was scared to fail out of one of my classes. I knew this year will show on my transcript; therefore, I was very nervous. But with the first few months over, I realized I had nothing to worry about.” Mevorah, like most students, initially got nervous about being enrolled in certain classes that can be challenging, but after some time, she finally acclimated to the class and stopped worrying about it. For freshmen, this is their first year that grades will show on their transcripts, making this a very new and frightening situation. Towards the twilight of one’s high school career, however, students often become less concerned about grades as “senioritis” kicks in. Fortunately for students, if one was to fail a quiz or two, he or she will eventually realize that it does not determine one’s future entirely, for each exam is simply a small tile in the mosaic of one’s high school career.

Every year, freshmen get uneasy about having to maneuver the halls of the high school. “I was scared that I would get lost in the hallways since the building was so big when I first came. I didn’t want to be late to my classes. But after about a week, I understood where everything was,” says freshman Kathryn Postiglione. The size of the high is especially intimidating to students from North Middle School, which only has two floors and three hallways. Students from South Middle school, however, have an easier transition as their school is much closer in size to LHS. No matter which school one is coming from, he or she will eventually become acquainted with the layout of LHS.

Another fear one LHS student had was regarding upperclassmen. Interacting with upperclassmen can be intimidating when one goes from being an overconfident eighth grader who is at the top of the totem pole right back down to being at the bottom of the social pyramid. Sometimes the relationship between upperclassmen and underclassmen can be personal, especially with seniors and freshman. Madison Crofts, a freshman, explains, “I was scared that my cousin, who is a senior, would tease me in the hallways.” This is a pretty reasonable situation to be worried about, going into a school where many of the kids are four years older than the freshmen.

Freshmen also must get used to a new, earlier schedule. Rather than starting at 8:00am, many students now have to start a half hour earlier. To make this fear worse, students have to worry about latenesses, absences, and potentially receiving no credit.

Many people may not realize that teachers also have nervous thoughts going into the new year. Spanish Teacher Danielle Leighley shares her thoughts, saying, “I was most scared of having all the ninth graders who knew the tablet better than me! Going into the school year not knowing what I should expect with the tablets really stressed me out. But, I ended up getting the hang of them, and I learn something new every day.” Jessica Sanders, an English and journalism teacher, says, “I always get apprehensive about grading all those writing assignments, especially after such a relaxing summer.” Starting a new school year can be very frightening to both students and teachers. From getting lost to the abundance of schoolwork, all go through their own difficulties to complete a successful school year.