Photo courtesy of Flickr/Philip Merrill College of Jounralism

Freshmen are eager to walk to school and share ideas with their peers.

When students enter WJ as freshmen, they are usually shocked by their new freedom and a completely unfamiliar learning environment and social atmosphere. After a long year of classes, extracurricular activities, and school social events, the current freshman class has adjusted to the atmosphere of WJ.

Freshman Connor Phelps played on the football team, attended other sporting events, and participated in Pennies for Patients events in order to get involved at school and better adapt to high school.

“Freshman year is harder than other years in the way that at the beginning of the year, a lot of us weren’t yet completely comfortable dealing with the new teachers, assignments, classes,” said Phelps.

According to freshman Sadie Keller, the incoming freshmen this year were very nervous about WJ’s size, where to sit during lunch, and making friends. According to Keller, many freshmen chose to join clubs and sports teams and participate in school activities to immerse themselves in the community, meet new people and adjust easily to high school.

“My favorite part about all of WJ’s events easily was having the opportunity to meet a lot of new people,” said Phelps.

Sports teams and activities helped the freshmen meet WJ students and feel like a part of the community. Keller was a part of the Best Buddies club, ran cross country, swam on the school swim team, played varsity lacrosse, and discovered a comfortable and supportive environment of friends and teammates.

“On all of the teams we all got very close and became really good friends no matter our grade,” said Keller.

Throughout the year, freshmen were an integral part of WJ, participating actively in teams and clubs and attending WJ events, and are now a strong and important part of the WJ community.

“I think the freshman class is somewhat united, but there haven’t been many opportunities for everyone to get to know each other yet,” said Phelps, “Out of school events could be a good way for us to be more united.”

As the freshman become more involved in the WJ community and get older, they will hold more responsibility for their grade and the entire school. The freshmen class has been noticing many issues at WJ, and they are already coming up with ideas for change and goals for the future and better WJ.

Both Phelps and Sadie want to put more effort into the Pennies for Patients fundraiser, get involved with leadership, and represent their grade.

“By senior year, I want to be elected to SGA, whether it’s as a class officer or school-wide SGA, because I think it would be fun to be one of the major voices in my class,” said Phelps.

Like Phelps, Keller wants to maintain good grades, play sports, and get involved in leadership in order to give back to WJ and contribute ideas and spirit to the school.

As new classes come, they bring unique ideas, energy, and values. As much as students value traditions from the past, change is healthy and exciting for the future of the school.

“I see WJ being a strong academic school where everyone has a place and everyone is happy and excel to be their best,” said Keller.