The Freshman Experience

By: Isabella Randazzo, Julia Ruggieri and Tyler Stafford
SEPT 20, 2017

On August 21, 2017, 523 freshmen walked through the gates of St. Thomas Aquinas High School (STA), ready to start  the next four years of their lives. In every direction, you could spot someone who was nervous, scared or excited. By the end of the first week of school, many freshmen had already formed opinions about St. Thomas Aquinas. These opinions will greatly affect how the class of 2021 connects with the rest of the school.

When the Raider Review recently  surveyed freshmen, results indicated that 64% of the current class came from Catholic elementary schools. The survey also revealed that  STA was the first-choice for high school for 86.5% of the freshmen. To gain an understanding of their personal opinions, we began interviewing freshmen at lunch and almost all of them agreed that the cafeteria is the place to be before and after school. Freshman Madison Nualart said, “Mostly I hang out in the cafeteria with all my friends.”

Adjusting to a new environment can be difficult, but according to freshman Matthew Whiting, “The environment is very good here… I haven’t gotten lost yet, so that’s good.” Making friends is part of the high school experience and so far the survey showed that 52.3% of freshmen thought making new friends has been somewhat easy. Getting involved is important, but for the class of 2021, there shouldn’t be any problems. 81.1% of freshmen want to join a school club, while 58.6% of freshmen say they want to join a sports team. Sounds like we have a busy year ahead of us… Good luck freshmen!