Isabella Bozkent | On 23, Feb 2016

The first day: You’ll feel as though you’ll die of embarrassment.

You won’t.

All those school supplies you stuffed in your bag…you won’t use half of them. Halfway through the year, you’ll resort to using one binder or a couple of notebooks for all your classes. The new pack of pens you bought will be gone by the end of the first month, and all the fun new stuff you bought for your locker will be overlooked as you rush from class to class.

When walking through the hallways: It is of the utmost importance to be aware that everyone has somewhere to go, so running around like a chicken without a head will only get people angry. On the other hand, stopping short in the middle of a packed hallway or staircase to talk to your friends will definitely get you a dirty look from an upperclassman. Don’t worry. It’s not because we hate you. It’s because we’re all just trying to get through the day and get to the next class so we can keep everything moving. Everything is still new to you, but for us it’s nothing close to being new or exciting.

Adapting to change: There have been a lot of changes since I was a freshman. New teachers, new lunchroom offerings, and iPads in exchange for notebooks. I know it can be hard to wake up every morning and be attentive all day long, but your grades are important. This is unsolicited advice coming from the girl who is applying to colleges and wishing sometimes she had gone the extra mile to achieve her absolute best. When teachers and adults would tell me to start good work habits it would sometimes go in one ear and out the other. Why would I start thinking about college 4 years in advance? Well, because freshman year might feel like it’s the longest year of your life, but the years after go by quicker than you can say, “Soar to new heights.”

Soaring to new heights: Every year for the past 4 years I would laugh every single time someone said that to me, but I can honestly say now that I have soared to new heights. The best part about high school was the push I was given each and every day to change for the better. You don’t realize the effect you have on others or the effect they have on you until you’re about to enter a new phase in your life.

The people who have changed me the most leading up to my senior year, other than my family and friends, are all members of the Hudson Catholic faculty.

Ms. McGady was my science and homeroom teacher for a year. Science was a struggle for me, especially when math was involved. Not understanding led me to be talkative and inattentive, but Ms. McGady still tried to teach me and she still went out of her way to make sure I understood. It’s hard to find a person as patient as she is.

Ms. Biason will always listen to you and give you a shoulder to cry on, even though she complains about everyone being in her classroom after school.

Mr. McCoy will be very hard on you, but it’s only for your own good. I remember thinking I would never survive his class as a freshman, only to find myself begging to be in his class as a senior. Every day that I have art class, we are pushed to change and to redefine ourselves. To use our voices.

I have found it difficult at times to think outside the box because we’ve been taught since we were younger to sit calmly inside that box, but that’s not the culture of Hudson Catholic. Individuals are appreciated here. That’s the key to surviving life: stay true to yourself.

My final piece of advice: Do everything you decide to do with conviction and with all of your heart. No one can tell you you can’t do something, and some will try very hard to see you fail, as corny or cheesy it may sound. So many people in the world don’t have the opportunity to be who they want to be, and are forced to conform and silence themselves. So many people don’t even get to go to good schools, even in a country like the United States.

As painful as high school can be at times, we are blessed to even be able to go to school, and to be able to attend Hudson Catholic is a true privilege. There are probably some problems you currently have that make you feel like the world is ending, but I promise that if you focus on the positive in your life, in a few months those problems will probably not even be relevant, and this time next year you’ll look back and laugh at yourself.

Something I know for sure is that there will always be a new problem, but there will always be a new solution as well. High school can be the best 4 years of your life, especially if you surround yourself with loyal and loving people, and those aren’t hard to come by here at Hudson Catholic–even if you do spend most of your days half asleep.