Freshmen ON THE FRONT LINES

First-year Patriots survived semester one

FEATURE | March 2026

Freshmen Audrina McNally, Ashlen Larsen, Dara Moses, Mason Landis and Akiko Brielle Antonio share strategies they use to academically succeed.

McNally rests for an hour before practice and then does her homework after with limited studying. “In the future, I will probably find out that studying will start to help more.

“I have found it challenging to get homework done on game days, but, normally, teachers are understanding or I find time to do it after the game,” said McNally.

Ashlen Larsen finds Quizlet to be a helpful study tool. “Also, just simply getting my homework done and paying attention was helpful,” said Larsen. “In the fall, I played golf, so I was gone for days at a time. I overcame this by coming in early and emailing teachers. It was a stressful time in my life.”

Dara Moses uses time after school to finish work. “I don’t have a job or anything to do after school,” said Moses. She makes it a priority to communicate with her teachers. She also studies her notes as she receives them to avoid last-minute cramming before a test.

Mason Landis has limited time for non-school-related activities. “I definitely have a lot less free time because I have homework, cross country and track. Getting schoolwork done is a lot harder compared to middle school,” said Landis. Landis has less time to do what he wants to but feels like he can devote more time to his homework and studying for tests.

“This year, I am participating in a lot of honor choirs, which means having to skip out on some days of school. I always stress out about missing days because I am worried about how much homework I am going to have to do once I get back, but I realized that asking my teachers ahead of time and just finishing it before I came back was really helpful,” said Akiko Brielle Antonio.

Antonio recommends skimming through notes intermittently to retain the information. “I struggle with staying on task while doing homework or any assignment. Usually, I'll force myself to really lock in on that work and reward myself with a little treat or play games afterward,” said Antonio.