When it comes to starting high school, freshman year can often be daunting. As with most challenges, it helps to have advice to guide you through. So this article is for all of you freshman out there, including myself, who would like a little help to make it through the first year–to make freshman year memorable, rather than a cringe-fest we’d all like to forget.

After interviewing various seniors, the general answer I got back was to stay on track, and to stay on top of your homework and grades. It seemed like for the most part, many seniors took too long to realize the importance of taking school seriously.

“Set yourself up for college. Don’t let yourself get a B or C in any joke classes. Make sure you get an A in all of those classes. GPA boosters,” senior Connor Johnson said.

Also known as Mr. Orono when he’s wearing his crown, Johnson also added that it was a good idea to, “be involved,” which leads me to the second most frequent answer I received.

It might seem overstated, but a common theme I hit was to try new things and experience as much as you can.

“Academics are important, but at the same time, one of the main things you should be looking at is going to as many meetings of different extracurriculars as possible,” senior Jillian Shultz said. “I probably did 3 or 4 groups that I thought were going to be amazing and then it turned out at the first meetings that they were either really good or they weren’t,” Shultz said.

This year, Shultz is a member of the National Honor Society, Speech, Art Club, Spanish Club, Montage, and Tri-M.

“It wasn’t until a couple years later that I found other, also amazing groups that were there the whole entire time, but I didn’t take the time to go to the first meeting, or I didn’t ask someone who was a part of it, ‘What does this entail?’, And I felt like I kind of missed out on an opportunity.”

Speaking from experience, Shultz explained that,“trying to branch out a little bit further than you normally would” can be “so rewarding.”

Once she figured out the effect of branching out, she says that she was able to take classes she never imagined she would take, and that by doing this she found the perfect fit for her senior year.

Some other advice I was given was to cooperate with the teachers, understand that study halls can help a lot but it can often be better to step outside of your comfort zone and try a new class, and to be friendly.

“I feel like a lot of people in high school care so much about what they look like to other people, and everything, but I think just like being yourself and really not worrying about that. Because I think as a freshman you’re really insecure and kind of scared of what you’re doing and you get kind of nervous about trying new things,” senior Clare Halloran said.

I received a wealth of solid advice, but above all others, I will grace you with one last thing to remember.

“Two words: Have fun,” senior Calvin Rippberger said.