There are three years separating a freshman from a senior. To some, three years appears to be forever, but it is only a small amount of time in one’s overall life. Still, life is very different for a freshman compared to a senior. One of those differences are fears. Freshmen and seniors are afraid of some of the same things, but they also have a lot of different fears as well.
Both Freshmen and seniors are high schoolers, so their fears for now are generally the same. Most students, both freshmen and seniors, are most afraid of their grades. All students are given homework and challenged within their classes, and maintaining good grades seems to be a big worry among all grades throughout Pleasant Valley.
Though freshman are also worried about their classes and grades, that was not their biggest fear. One of the most common fears among freshman is the worry of finding their classes due to the big transition from the junior high to high school. Freshman Jack Williams says “Last year I had a fine tune mission, and I knew when I was going to my locker. So going into it, I just had to think about what I would do and what I would carry.”
Other freshmen talked about their concern of just passing high school. With there being a necessary amount of credits to graduate, incoming freshman fear what they do not know about high school. One last large fear was upperclassmen. Freshmen said they are not afraid of them in general, but afraid of getting in their way.
Seniors on the other hand were more fearful of the future rather than the now. The dread of college lurking in the near future seems to be the only thing on their mind. Senior Quint Thompson has been worried about the future even before his senior year began. He explains that his biggest fear coming into this year was not really the school at all, but the fact that it is the last year of it. Thompson says his biggest fear of this year was, “The fact that I have one more year of high school before the real world swallows me up and spits me out.”
Other seniors are afraid of just making their future decisions. College is not really what they are scared of, but making the wrong decisions when it comes to it is. The decision of what college to attend, or what major to pursue almost terrifies them. Senior Anna Griffin says that her biggest fear for the next four years is, “Not being happy where I am at, and what I am doing.” Altogether, seniors appear to be over the highschool fears and more concerned about what is going to happen in their future as a result of their decisions today.
