Freshman year was the pinnacle of my fright. I only knew a couple people when I first came to McClatchy, neither of whom I had classes with. My best option was to stay quiet and speak when I was spoken to, the same way I experienced middle school as most of my conversation starters would be shot down.
My only knowledge of high school was what I’d seen in movies and what my older sister had told me. As I walked into my first class, I relied on my height (I was five foot at the time) to hide me, which proved ineffective as I made my first friend.
She was probably one of the nicest people I knew, and I would like to think we’re still friends, even though we have no classes together this year and rarely see each other in the hallways. She introduced me to my first friend group, granted it was a small one. There were four of us, all freshmen, who had a variety of personalities, that I honestly felt made our group unique. We had our inside jokes and played games with each other everyday. It felt like I had the group of friends I was always missing and finally enjoyed myself.
I grew to become more comfortable with the people I knew, and began to make more friends in my classes. My freshman year is the one I probably made the most friends in. Many of the people I met when I was 14 are the people I know and hang out with now. I started to meet more people and, at one point, I knew everyone in my fourth period class. I started to talk to people more, hanging out with different people throughout the day, while still eating lunch with the friend group I had first made.
While the homework load surprised me, seeing as how I had less homework than my teachers said I would, I still made an effort to get my homework done, probably to an unhealthy amount. As I grew, I started to realize I had to put myself first and focus on me and my mental health first, even at the stake of a grade. I began to make time for me and focus on the little things that made me happy. Obviously I didn’t realize this until later my Junior year, but it’s always good to share with others.
Right around mid-to-late March is when Covid-19 hit. At first, many of us believed that we’d be out of school for a week at the most, maybe two. Then it started to last longer, going from a couple weeks to a couple months, leaving the next school year online. Not being able to see my friends severely damaged my mental health, and many others, along with it affecting my ability to learn, resulting in my grades getting worse. I only had one teacher who made an active effort to have class online. One teacher, who no longer works at McClatchy, gave up entirely and refused to post any assignments or talk to students, which was hard for a language class. Once the school year was officially over, many of us were confused on what would come next, hoping to be back in school the next year, which obviously didn’t happen.