Sitting on my couch, with the ashes of my Integrated I and II notebooks dusting my hearth, I went over every single thing I did or said last year. While thinking, I came to an undeniable conclusion: freshman me sucked. I’m just going to say it. And freshman you probably sucked too. Now that I’m a sophomore, I have had an entire year, plus an eye-opening summer, to ruminate on my past blunders. To put it simply, I’m a different person now.

Now, what to do with this knowledge? I could just laugh it off and continue acting, well, naïve, or I could completely invent a new version of myself devoid of any and all facets of my past self. As you can probably guess, I chose the latter. During the summer I, and apparently most of my peers, evolved into superior beings, much like meager caterpillars that metamorphosed into magnificent butterflies.

   It’s quite funny that actually, as a ninth-grader, I vehemently defended my class.
“I don’t understand why the upperclassmen hate us! We didn’t do anything!”
But oh yes, we did…

   I remember taking what felt like hours in the food checkout line because I didn’t understand that your student ID number had to be typed in full, unlike in middle-school.
I heard the people behind me grumbling as I pressed the keypad on my eleventh try. Now, I know that the first two digits are non-negotiable. But back then, I was committing the cardinal sin that is the nature of being a freshman—simply not knowing.

   Of course, that is only one example of the disgusting, detestable mistakes I made freshman year.
Maybe other freshmen were immune to these mindless blunders, though I doubt they were.
However, one thing that I know other freshmen failed in too, was school spirit. Class of 2025, remember the Homecoming rally our freshman year? Remember how utterly silent we were when the emcees gave us our cue for the Finish the Lyrics game? Thank goodness that this year, the two sophomores who knew the song were better singers than last time.

   It seems, (and rightfully so), that we believe we have earned the right to cringe at, reprimand, and hate on not only our freshmen selves, but the current freshmen.
I mean, who gets lost in an alphabetized school? And who actually asks someone else (who was obviously busy playing Clash Royale on their phone) where the P building is? I mean, it’s right next to the O building! Which is right next to the M–oh wait…

   Anyways, freshmen, fear not! You will not remain in this state of infantile naivete forever. Come sophomore year, you will transform, just as I did, into an equally superior being.
With knowledge of SCOIR’s inner-workings, and how to finesse the school’s constant Wi-Fi issues, you will be able to overcome any and all conundrums your high school career will throw at you.
Just as I did, you will look back at your past self and realize how world-endingly awful you were, and give thanks every day that no aspect of freshman you remains.

   But, until then, freshmen, you must weather the various slings of justifiably annoyed upperclassmen, as I had to do the exact same thing.
I’m so embarrassed about my first year in high school, and freshmen? You should be too!