You open your eyes on the first day of school. It is the easiest day just to pop out of bed because you know today will be the day you have always been waiting for, the beginning of high school.

The worries of getting lost and going to the wrong class, or figuring out where you are going to sit at lunch, are trumped by the excitement this day brings.

Freshmen come into high school expecting the world to change.

People expect high school to be a completely different experience. It is supposed to be filled with new adventures and activities.

You are finally welcome in the student sections, break finally has music, and you are not looked at as young anymore. Except you are.

Freshmen year has very high expectations, but unfortunately not all of them come true. Looking up at upperclassmen from middle school was intimidating. You feel like you have to be perfect for them to accept you. Some people change completely in front of their peers, but why? They were in the same place as you, looking up from under.

Freshmen have a demeanor about them, a certain essence that follows them around. When walking down the hallways freshmen still have enthusiasm about the year.

Seniors have been here for four years and have lost that pep for each day. We just get to our class and get ready to learn.

For many years, the underclassmen are seeking acceptance from their superiors. Stratford, in my opinion, has the best high school for all grades to intermingle. In the movies, it is unheard of for freshman and seniors to talk, but at this school it is encouraged.

Some people’s best friends are one or two grades up and that’s OK with everyone. It is easy to adjust to the flow of high school with all of these people helping.

After being in ninth grade for seven months, you begin to notice that your freshman year is not as scary as people make it up to be. You aren’t treated like the bottom of the totem pole. You aren’t a freshman, you are a student in high school just like everybody else.

Through this year friends have changed, classes have gotten more difficult, and and everyone has become more mature. This is a year that many people want to skip.

After completing the whole year you realize that it was one that was very much needed.

It was the “Wonder Year.”

Karen Jarrard is a freshman and staff writer for The Gazebo.