Freshman Fair

PJ Seui, Reporter

On Monday March 28, 2016 West Anchorage High school hosted the Freshmen Fair. The parking lot was getting packed and upcoming freshman were rushing towards the entryway with their family awaiting the freshman fair. Being an upcoming freshman or stepping foot on campus could be nerve racking or intimidating. Freshman asked questions about the sports program and classes they have here at West.

Dhar Montalbo was one of them. Montalbo, an upcoming freshman, was very excited about attending high school. “I’m excited about attending high school next fall, and I’m kind of nervous at the same time too.” Being a freshmen can be exhausting when you first step foot on campus, but one teacher that I had the chance to interview that night had some things to say about the struggles that freshman go through during their first year on campus.

“Freshmen face challenges all the time during their first year experiences in high school, and one of the main reasons I think why is because they would get too comfortable with high school and take advantage of skipping, and when they end up skipping it adds on a ton of missing work for them Cantrell said.” Missing work can be a pain in the butt especially if you’re a student athlete and want to play sports. If you want to compete in a high school sport, you have to pass all six classes and at least have a 2.0 GPA.

While interviewing upcoming freshman Arthur Tauiliili about joining a West sport, he had lots to say. “I’m very excited about enrolling into West next year, one of the main reasons why I will be attending West is because their sports program is above the charts, they won state in football, hockey, tennis, and cross country running,” Tauiliili said.  And when asking him to sum up one word he had in mind about attending high school next fall he said “exciting.” As the freshman fair started to wrap up Coach Cantrell had some things to say about the soon to be class of 2020. “Bring on the turkey butts!”

It has to be hard to transition from an eighth grader to an upcoming freshman, guys like Tauiliili and Dhar Montalbo has a lot to say about that. “It’s hard to transition from an eighth grader to a freshman in high school because the school is a lot bigger and you basically have to meet new people, but the best part is that we get out of school 45 minutes earlier than the usual Middle school time said Montalbo.” Tauiliili’s transition from middle school to high school isn’t going to be a problem for him either. Tauiliili said, “I feel comfortable about attending high school because I already have friends here at West.”

And in order to help these upcoming freshmen as they walk the halls here at West next fall, Travis Cantrell just knows what to do. “I just feel like us teachers have to do a better job at engaging with the freshman class when they step foot on campus, if you’re not too engaged with them then it would just make it hard for them to come into West comfortable and stress free in high school Cantrell said.”