Incoming Central freshmen excited about start of classes

A large, unfamiliar building. More expectations from teachers. More homework. Peer pressure.

Peyton Atchley isn't worried. He and his buddy Dominick Waltz are already signed up for football, and they will get a chance to take a metal tech class, which they didn't have in junior high at Nell Holcomb.

Atchley was one of five incoming freshman boys and girls hanging out near the edge of the smaller gymnasium inside Cape Girardeau Central High School during an orientation day held Wednesday. Students and their parents were taken on tours, students were given the opportunity to sign up for sports, clubs and other activities and administrators and teachers gave them a day's worth of insight into a new experience.

Classes at the high school start Thursday.

Katie Biggerstaff attended Central Junior High School. She thinks the social atmosphere will be different in high school.

"There will be less arguments," she said, "and I'm not putting up with any drama."

She said she expects her fellow students will act more grown-up and that high school will be better than junior high because everyone seems more focused on work.

Her friend Bethany Skaggs will use her time in high school to find out whether she wants to go to college. She likes music, but she thinks a career in that field will be hard to establish.

The students are all excited about the classes and activities they will have access to at the high school. Madelynn Eudy said she wants to take a photo editing class. She also might go out for cheerleading, but it will have to be next year. She hurt her knee earlier in the summer.

At the same time they are looking forward to new experiences, all the students say they are a bit worried about finding their way around, although tours during orientation have helped.

Orientation helped get rid of some anxieties surrounding freshman year for Lori Scott and her daughter, Erica, who also will go to the high school from the junior high.

"Just getting to walk around and figure out where everything was helped both of us a lot," Lori Scott said.

Lori said she felt Erica was a bit more worried about starting a new school until she went to band camp for two weeks, where she met other students who will attend the high school, and went though orientation.

Amy Sutterer, the high school's counselor, said the biggest changes freshmen at Central deal with at the beginning of the year are more in-depth demands from teachers and a greater homework load. Practicing good study skills each night will help, she said.

"They may not have as many study skills in place as they need to at the high school level," Sutterer said.

One thing that helps students adjust even more is a required class for freshmen called "Preparing for Academic Success," which Sutterer said is a time each day when students can ask questions, share concerns, focus on study time and work with their teacher to stay on top of organization and planning.

The high school has around 1,200 students enrolled for the 2011-2012 school year.

eragan@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

1000 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, MO