Karl Pogue and Adam Kolaz think about the memories of freshman year. Photo by: Tori Godwin

By Tori Godwin
High school can be a new and interesting experience, but students who already went through their freshman year know what to expect for incoming freshman and what kind of experiences they went through. As the four years of high school linger on, freshman year will be remembered as the beginning of learning, making tough decisions and the time of change. Looking back on their freshman year, some students had challenges that they had to overcome and lessons to learn.  Each freshman has to deal with becoming more independent and maturing into adulthood. Growing up can be a scary thing, but everyone has to go through it. Freshman year is the building block year into becoming an adult in the school community.

Sophomore Karl Pogue admits that his freshman year was not great for him, but his experiences have helped him through school this year. “ I know who to trust now.” He said. For senior Krissy Wieringa, her freshman year was very eye opening. She stated “ It really motivated me for my future years of high school.” Sophomore Adam Kolaz said “ My experience as a freshman was much better than any of my

previous years [of school]. I made a bunch of new friends.”As the first year of high school comes to an end, people may start to change. Students start to learn more about themselves and they start to realize what is truly best for them. Also, their views start to change. “ My views on friendship, personal responsibility, motivation and self-discipline changed. You cannot let friends control you, you are responsible for your own actions, motivation takes you to greater places and to be a good role model for others, you need to control yourself.” Pogue stated “ I realized that if you trust people[too much], you are giving them permission to destroy you.” Kolaz said “ The main view that changed was my opinion about my religion.”

With views changing among people, goals may change as well. Students may finally learn what they want do with their lives. For Pogue, his goals have continued to stay the same. “ I still want to go to Ireland, still want to record an album, and still want to jam out acoustically with a bunch of random people I have never met.” Wieringa agrees with Pogue about her goals not really changing. She stated “ Not really. My goal has always been to find a place where I am needed and I have found it.” Kolaz simply said “ No, my goals have not changed.”

Freshman year may have been hard for students because of challenges that they had to face and overcome. With this prior knowledge of the challenge, going into the next three years of high school could possibly be easier for them. Wieringa sad that she did have challenges to face that helped her gain knowledge for the rest of her high school career. She explained “ I had to learn how to take responsibility for myself and not let people lead me astray. I allowed negative influences to change who I really was.” Pogue had challenges as a freshman but he thinks his sophomore year is a little tougher than his freshman year. He said “ I have faced more challenges now than as a freshman.”

Thinking back to to the beginning year of high school, students might have regrets and things that they wish someone would have said to them before freshman year starts. Maybe it would be something simple like “do not forget to practice your locker combination” or it could be something serious like “ do not ruin your life for that person or that group of friends.” Pogue wishes that someone would have told him “ no one wants to be a bass [guitar] player.” Wieringa said “ I wish someone would have told me “ You can beat the system” or “You can change. It does not have to be this way.”

Knowing what they wish someone would have told them would help out a lot if they were to give someone else advice. Wieringa knows that freshman year can be hard when friends are controlling and life itself gets hard, so her advice is “always look ahead and do not beat yourself up if you start out poorly. Just get on the track that you truly want to be on.” For Pogue, he knows that it is hard when friends become enemies, so his advice is “keep your guard up and surround yourself with the right people.”

Their first year of high school may be over, but knowing what life lessons they have learned can help them through life inside and outside of high school. Pogue said that he did not learn any life lessons as a freshman, but has been learning them as a sophomore. Kolaz said that he learned that God is actually important. Wieringa stated “ I learned that you need to march to the beat of your own drum. [Also], anyone can be a follower, but it takes someone great to be a leader.”

When times get hard in school this year, these three students can unlock the memories of their freshman year and everything that they have learned. Remembering these lessons will help these three students march on through this year and keep these lessons in the back of their minds for future use.