The butterflies fluttering, eyes frantically searching through a seemingly endless crowd, new people that somehow know your name and a bunch of older kids looking down on you.  

This may seem like a crazy concert or a crowded event, and in a way the first full day of freshmen year is exactly like a chaotic roller coaster. 

There will always be lows that are different from person to person, but for the freshmen they see more issues because they are not adapted to the new environment of high school that they will eventually will get adapted to. 

“The hallways are a lot more active and crowded making it harder to get from place to place sometimes and can be very hectic,” freshman Ethan Harvey said. 

One of the biggest changes that most incoming freshmen are told gets a lot harder is the homework load that all the new classes give out.  

“I feel like it can be a lot (homework) if you procrastinate, but if you do it as you get it, the homework is not that bad,” freshman Hope Von Dorn said. 

The biggest thing that contributes to new students adapting to high school is the teachers. If you have very strict boring teachers that don’t make class interesting, then the students won’t want to be there, and it makes for a very unpleasant time for both the students and teacher. 

“So far, all my teachers have been lively, have taught the material well, and kept the class engaged,” Harvey said. 

Another important part to adapting to high school is the people and for some people it’s hard to find a group of people that they enjoy being around. Friends can either lead to the high points of this crazy roller coaster of high school or the low points that are never seen coming but always happen. 

“If I could change something in high school, I would change the number of cliques that people are in because of how some people fit in or don’t,” freshman Sam Mueggenberg said. 

To kids coming from smaller schools there not adapted to the amount of people and are shocked when they come and how big the school is.  

“I did not think that there would be this many people so when I got here I was very surprised,” freshman Olivia Dendinger said. 

The freshman this year as new students can have new ideas on things that could potentially help the school and make the school day more enjoyable. 

“If I could change something then I would make classes shorter because there is a lot of wasted time and some classes just don’t get engaged making it hard to do anything,” Von Dorn said. 

So when next time you see one of these new freshmen, be sure to say hi and welcome them to PLHS because we were all scared and nervous freshman at some point.