Excited. Nervous. Excited. Nervous. A bit of both? Being a Freshman is a grand ordeal, experience, and awakening. I turn my chin skyward, surveying my new surroundings. Wide-eyed and weary of the school year to begin, excited to see where this new adventure, this escapade called high school, leads me. I inhale anticipation and exhale any remaining ties to the summer past.  I walk with my head held high, trying not to look too confused or lost, and most of all, not to be That Freshman™.

So many rules and regulations, such tight restrictions, it’s almost overwhelming until I remember all the positive things that I’ll be able to reap from Notre Dame Preparatory School. High school is a whole other world in comparison to middle school that seems a universe away.  New surroundings and new beginnings, not to mention an assembly every Wednesday. There are so many new names to learn and faces to become assimilated to. It’s all so exhilarating. NDP is clearly going to take some getting used to, from learning how to open my locker to learning the school song.

I walk through the halls of my new school, surrounded by my newfound friends, by chatter, smiles, and laughter. The welcoming atmosphere at NDP is incomparable, the ease with which everybody moves is so admirable. NDP has become more than just my school, it’s become a second home, a place to not only learn or socialize, but also to grow as a person. Yes, going to a high school as rigorous and challenging as NDP will be quite an arduous experience, but it will also be a happy one, where memories will be made. I am definitely ready to “Act justly, love tenderly, and to walk humbly with God.”