Heed thy elders, young grasshoppers

President of Chemistry Club

Secretary of Student Council

My biggest challenge: “Finding a place in the school is really hard. I didn’t really know where I fit in and I didn’t know what friends to talk to.” My advice for freshmen: “If you find something interesting just try it out, go for it, you’ll never regret trying something out but you might regret not [trying it].”

Two-time Swim League Champion

President of Key Club

My biggest challenge: “Figuring out who I wanted to be with, finding out who were going to be my good friends and who I was going to surround myself with.” My advice for freshmen: “Put yourself out there and try new things. High school is a great time to throw yourself into a sport or a club or just talk to new people. I’ve met so many different people just from reaching out and being polite and just talking to people.”

My biggest challenge: “My biggest challenge was [avoiding] getting sick. I missed about two to three months of school because of getting sick.” My advice for freshmen: “Be careful who you hang around. Don’t associate yourself with the wrong seniors and juniors."

My biggest challenge: “Lack of social awareness. I didn’t really struggle a lot freshman year other than like…other people. I guess I was surrounding myself with people that made me miserable.” My advice for freshmen: “If you’re constantly around someone and all they do is make you miserable, drop that [friendship]. Drama’s gonna happen either way. It’ll be fast…it’ll start off pretty miserable but then it’ll go away just like that.”

My biggest challenge: “Mostly finding new friends, because I had my friends from eighth grade. Reaching out…meeting new people is hard for me.” My advice for freshmen: “Keep a smile on your face and try to do as much as you can. Try out for plays, try out for sports.”

Member of Cleveland 

Orchestra Youth Orchestra

My advice for freshmen: “If you’re just thinking about how you present yourself all the time, it’s just not going to be as fun...[Seniors] aren’t as intimidating because, in my head [as a freshmen], it was just like, seniors are these big scary old kids, and then I’m a 14 year old. They’re not as scary as you think they are.”