By: Esmeralda Gonzalez, Priscilla Hernandez, Miriam Garcia, Anthony Estevez

It’s the first day of school and you’re trying to push through the huge crowd of students that seem to be towering around you. Your heart is pounding and your hands are shaking as you frantically scan the wall of students for your name. As you enter your first class you can feel everyone’s eyes on you as you head to your assigned seat. Finally you take a seat surrounded by people you don’t know and the awkwardness begins to overwhelm you. It’s official, you are a freshman in high school now.

Everyone at APB has experienced this feeling on their first day of school here, most recently the freshmen that came in three weeks ago. Now all they have to do is get through the year, easy right?

Well, not exactly. Some things aren’t so hard to get used to: many freshmen agree that the food is definitely an upgrade from middle school and that meeting new people is also amazing. However other things take some getting used to. “You need to think before you do things here. It’s a lot more strict from Drew,” Said Emerson Ramirez (9th grader). The classes and workload are also different. “Composition is my hardest class. I try to make it easier by doing the homework first. Then, I can ask questions if I don’t get it,” said freshman Cesar Barragan.

They aren’t the only ones to have had this struggle. Everyone at Animo Pat Brown has gone through the same thing. It’s comforting to know that they have survived, but it’s also helpful to understand that freshman year is just the beginning of  many new experiences. ”The classes are more difficult, teachers give out more homework and have higher expectations” said Jessica Garcia about moving from 9th to 10th grade. This is not to scare any freshman but to let them know that high school is a complete different story than middle school and in order to succeed they have to put their best self forward and accept the challenges that come their way. It’s useful to know some advice and experiences from people that have passed through the same freshman year.  “Keeping up with the work the teacher’s gave was a challenge when I was a freshman“ says current senior Monica Lopez. The best advice she can give to freshman is to simply do all your work. By doing this you can make sure you are on track and have learned the content.

Advice for 9th graders, why not take it? 10th and 12th graders speak the truth and give wise tips. Sophomore Jessica Garcia said, “Do all your work and don’t slack off.”A sophomore’s words should really be taken to heart for they were freshman previously going through the same concept and obstacles. Not just sophomores know the difficulty of 9th grade, seniors know very well that there were ups and downs to the beginning of freshman year.  Senior Monica Lopez said, “Keep up with the work the teachers give, it starts getting difficult in 9th grade but with every year it gets harder.” Luis Martinez, another senior, said to “organize and write your homework down or you’ll forget it.”