Freshman Experience

Ease into a New Semester by Playing Sports-Alex Rice, Class of 2018

Posted February 15th, 2015

Many times, the first semester at a new school can seem very turbulent and confusing. Add to this the fact that you might not know many people, and boom, you have a rather anxious student. I can tell you that I was one of those students. The situation has the potential to be unsettling, but there are many ways to get around this issue. The biggest one I can share is: join a fall sport. Seriously, if you can find a way to get here during the summer, the transition will so much smoother.

I was incredibly anxious about the upcoming year. It got to the point where I honestly couldn’t sleep a full night. But this year I decided to pick up soccer again after a multi¬year hiatus, not having much to lose. We began tryouts in the middle of August, about 3 weeks before school began. When I got there, I realized that most freshmen were like me, pretty much alone, so it was a common conversation piece. After tryouts I was feeling much more confident about the upcoming year. Once the year began, the friends I had made during tryouts helped me ease my transition into the school. So, if you can, try out for a fall sport, it is completely worth it.