By Anne Isman

It’s no secret that this year’s ninth grade class is the largest in Beacon’s history—with nearly five-hundred freshmen roaming the halls between classes and lunch, it’s not hard to miss them. What comes with this greater class size is a greater challenge for freshmen to transition from middle school to high school. For Beacon students who have already experienced this, the struggle is still all too familiar. Luckily, some upperclassmen were willing to share their advice with “The Beacon Beat” on how freshmen can survive the trials and tribulations of ninth grade.

One junior, Evy Rahmey, recommends “letting yourself ease into school” academically while “definitely branching out” socially: “It’s important to make new friends because high school is about becoming your own person, and you can’t do that if you stay enclosed in a bubble.”  Other juniors agree that freshmen should aim to find a supportive group of friends. Junior Ayumu Izumo says, “Make a good friend …[Find] somebody who is going be there for you and invest in your friendship and do a lot of things outside of school.”  One of the hardest things about settling into a new school is introducing yourself to unfamiliar face; Ayumu advises just “being yourself.”

Other upperclassmen acknowledged that while making friends plays a huge role in surviving freshman year, ninth graders should “try not to form too many cliques.” Junior Anaïs Cullen explains that “by sophomore year, so much will have [changed].” Most upperclassmen would agree that their friend groups have changed more times than they can count, which only shows that accepting the fact that everything is constantly changing throughout freshman year will help you to ease into the flow of high school.  Of course, that’s easier said than done, as Jake, a sophomore, admits that “School is very hard [because] plenty of social situations suck just as much as the class workload.”  Despite this, students “are never alone” in this experience because “everybody deals with bad social [situations].”  Although being the youngest in the school can be difficult, having such a large class means there are many freshmen sharing the same experience. While freshman year can feel overwhelming now, soon enough, it will just be a fond memory.