The start to the school year brings many new things to campus, including a new batch of freshman.

These students were thrown in the deep end on day one, according to freshman Izzy Patrick, being expected to quickly adjust to what high school life looks like post Covid.

“I have two older sisters who are seniors at Liberty who had already told me a lot about the school going in,” Patrick said. “I’d say it is about the same as they told me it would be, aside from what their routines were as freshman pre-Covid.”

Going in with certain assumptions, Patrick feels the first few days lived up to her expectations,  based on the opinions of her sisters, twins Sydney and Sabrina Patrick.

“My first few days were really fun,” Patrick said. “My friend Mason was already here a lot over the summer for Red Rhythm practice, so she had been hyping high school up all summer long for me.”

While some have siblings to fall back on, others go in seemingly blind-sighted, relying on the standards pop culture facilitates to form their guesses on what high school will be like.

“The first time I came, I was a little scared because, you know, high school,” freshman Ahmad Lafi said. “When I think of high school, I think of those movies where the teachers are mean, but all of the teachers have been very nice. It’s a new thing, new year. I was a little bit scared, but I got used to it.”

Aside from experiencing the new freedoms that come with high school life, Patrick is appreciative for the opportunity to further explore her interests.

“Learning new things with classes like theater and stuff has been really nice because it’s given me the opportunity to learn more about the things I found an interest in in middle school,” Patrick said.

Being a freshman can be tough for some students, but Patrick and Lafi both feel they have valuable advice to current, and future, freshman classes.

“Don’t be annoying,” Patrick said.

“Don’t be scared,” Lafi said.