Starting at a new school is always scary, especially when you are in the youngest grade in that school and don’t have a lot of power. You have to find new classes, see new people, and adjust to the new schedule. When I was younger, I would hear stories about freshmen and how they would get bullied and treated worse by older grades. And on top of the stress of not no knowing where to go or what my teachers looked like, I was terrified for my freshman year. I was not only expecting the worst treatment, but also I was anticipating my classes to be much more difficult and have lots more homework than in middle school. But it was not at all like I expected.
No one bothered me in the hallways, even when I had to carry around a map for the first few days. There was no shoving or talking down to freshmen, and in my classes that I shared with older students, they were helpful and treated me the same way as their own age group. I wondered if other students felt the same way I did.
I talked to freshman Angelina Sehi, and she did seem to agree. She explains how she was expecting high school to be “scary because there were a lot of things I didn’t know about the school.” Another freshman Michael Segvich feels the same way, saying he thought it would be bad and he was very nervous. But Segvich seemed to be pleasantly surprised by there being less cursing from other students and being able to find his classes with some help. When Sehi got to high school, she said it was nerve-racking finding her classes and navigating The T. But she also states it was “a lot of fun because I got to meet new people from Norup.”
So if other current freshmen, and I all felt this way about high school being better than expected, I wonder if upperclassmen had the same experience going into their freshman year? To figure this out I talked to senior Mya Wallace. Agreeing with Sehi and Segvich, she also said was nervous going into her freshman year. Wallace explains that, “freshmen are at the bottom of the social ladder coming in,” which adds on to the nervousness of being at a new school. Wallace also states that becoming an upperclassman gave her a new mindset of being a role model and having more of a leadership role for younger students, but also being more carefree and less self-conscious.
Berkley High School and the Berkley School District is a welcoming community in general. Most people treat each other with respect and kindness. This could also be a reason as to why freshmen are treated less poorly than one would expect. So it could potentially be worse for freshmen at other schools. But, at the end of the day, we should all be thankful for the good experiences Berkley High School has given us.