By Mubarrat Choudhury

High school – the final frontier. A complex maze with twists and turns ending with either salvation or persistent administrators. One wrong turn and you could end up in the hands of Mrs. Curry without your ID. You’ve entered a dog eat dog world and wearing leggings in the presence of Mrs. King would be barking up the wrong tree. Being tardy to Geometry, and dozing off during a lecture over the Mongols will just not cut it. You are but one high school student, so The Talon is here to help. Here are a few things that every freshman should know.

1. G Hall will always be crowded. Always… So if you’re quick on your feet, get out of there as quick as possible unless you want to get pummeled and squished in a sea of more than 800 freshmen. Also, make sure you wear deodorant whenever you are in G hall (and everywhere, cause if you aren’t wearing deodorant – just, gross). You and everyone around you will thank me later.

2. Expect back problems at the end of the year. We’re high school students, we have backpacks, and for some godforsaken reason, we have textbooks bigger than the book “War and Peace.”

3. B hall will never have service. NEVER. So if your girlfriend freaks out that you aren’t texting her, blame B hall.

4. Watch what you wear to school. You are fish. Fish are food. The administration are sharks. Sharks eat fish. Especially fish that express themselves beyond the dress code. Mrs. Curry will hunt you down until those really comfortable leggings that you absolutely love never show their black spandex stretchiness again. Follow the dress code. It’ll benefit you in the long run.

5. Everyone is on social media. Including your teachers. So next time you decide to talk trash about that horrible geometry teacher that misuses the Pythagorean theorem – don’t. Because that teacher will find your tweet, and will probably hate you for the rest of the year. (Speaking from experience here.)

6. Think of freshman year as the foundation of a house. If you miss a few bricks throughout high school, the house will stay upright as long as the foundation is sound. Freshman year matters. Actually care about your grades and work hard this year so that the foundation of your high school experience is solid and it becomes easier to endure the next few years.

7. Passing period is not social hour. Five minutes may seem like a fair amount of time to talk to friends between classes, but remember that you have to get to a class. Tardies rack up, and you’ll be in a whole world of trouble if you get too many. Also, don’t be one of those kids that stands in the middle of the hallway. No one likes those kids.

8. You don’t ACTUALLY have to sit down during a pep rally. But it’s all part of school spirit. You’ll have your chance when you become an upper classman.

9. Always be prepared for fire drills. We are notorious for having a lot of fire drills. Don’t know why? Maybe this building was built on an ancient Indian reserve. But keeping an extra jacket for a literal “rainy day” isn’t a bad idea.

10. PDA. It’s gross. Stahp.