The school bell rings. Students rush out of their classes crowding the halls. It’s loud and chaotic and just like a scene out of a movie. That’s because it is.

Freshmen tend to have interesting ideas of how high school will go, ranging from being calm to nearly breaking down in the hallway in a struggle to find their next class. Many might recall not being near as collected as they’d like to believe.

During interviews with multiple freshmen, many had the perception that lunch would be spent alone at a table and dirty looks would come left and right. Movies and TV shows definitely didn’t help, as most tend to depict high school as being a callous environment.

Luckily, most freshmen, like Elizabeth Kent, have found that it isn’t nearly as scary.

“I thought other people would care about social life like in movies but no one really cares what anyone else does and I like that,” Kent remarked. “I thought the people would be pretty mean and cold, but that’s not the case for most people. If you take the step and talk to them, most people are super nice.”

The second semester at Air Academy has still left much to be desired in the school environment. Unfortunately, freshmen have yet to experience high school in its entirety due to health restrictions, though it does seem like things are going to clear up soon enough.

School is still school and isn’t necessarily the most fun place to be, but it does get easier for freshmen.

Mikayla Kehn proved in her interview that by the time the second semester starts freshmen are a little more adjusted.

“Second semester is going a lot better than first semester! It’s not as bad as I thought it would be,” Khen admitted. “Originally I was thinking that it would be kind of scary, and a lot of work. Sometimes you might get a lot of assignments but they aren’t due the next day. The teachers give us a lot of time to work on them!”

This sentiment is shared by many. Coming into high school, freshmen have ideas of what the school, teachers, and their peers will be like. However, the students at Air Academy High School are particularly good at welcoming freshmen to the school with open arms.

“I thought I would be sitting alone in the Cafeteria at lunch in high school, but I’ve found that’s not true at all. High school really isn’t as bad as middle schoolers think it is,” freshman Nilah Carroll reflected.

While freshmen haven’t experienced the numerous pep rallies, spirit weeks, and Halloween trunk or treat, it’s a relief to find that they’ve still felt the strong sense of community that makes Air Academy the great school it is. After all, even seniors remember what it was like to be walking the halls of AAHS for the first time. No one leaves a fellow Kadet hanging.