Suddenly Sophomore: Bigger school brings big changes

In the Jackson School District, high school is a little different. We start out high school as freshman, but we still attend school at the junior high and don't start at the actual high school until we are sophomores.

This year I am a sophomore. I took summer school classes to get the extra credits and a jump on the curriculum. When I stepped into the high school for the first time, I felt 10 inches tall. The high school campus is huge compared to the junior high, making it easy to get lost. There are also several buildings with similar names, which I believe was done just to confuse us. There's New A and Old A, which are also known as North A and South A, and three gyms: the New Gym, Old Gym and the Event Center.

Apparently this lost feeling is rather common among sophomores. As my brother, who is a senior, and I pulled up to school on the first day of summer school he laughed and said "All the sophomores are standing around the flagpole 'cause they have no idea where they're going!"

I brushed his comment off and went to class. I managed to trip going up the stairs, and I began to wonder if the juniors and seniors actually pay attention to the sophomores. After talking to a few upperclassmen, I'm told that they do, in fact, notice sophomores, and they do laugh at us just as they were laughed at when they were our age. Not the best news that I could hear considering I had just stumbled up the stairs. They assured me that most of the time it wasn't personal and gave me some tips to avoid being the brunt of upperclassmen jokes.

* Use your map. Regardless of whether you think it makes you look like a dork, I'm told that it beats walking into the wrong classroom and taking a seat. People also said that when you make a mistake, it's OK. You can always act like you did it on purpose, or laugh at yourself as I did after falling up the stairs.

* Make older friends. I'm told that having friends who are juniors or seniors will make your year more fun. They'll give you tips on how to get through school and how to avoid sophomoric mistakes -- like hanging out at the flagpole because you're lost.

* Stay caught up. My upperclassmen friends urged me to not procrastinate when it comes to homework. It just adds stress. If you have an assignment due in a month, work on it a little bit every day so that you'll be done with it and not panic as the deadline approaches.

The next couple of days at school felt more like smooth sailing, and I feel now that I'm better equipped with advice to survive my first year at the high school.

Carlie Cattron is a sophomore trying to find her way through the halls of Jackson High School and documenting it in a monthly column.