By Rohini Roy
Entering our second year as a school, we have new additions to our student body for the 2022-2023 academic school year—the class of 2026. As sophomores and freshmen learned to navigate their new surroundings last year, it was a common sentiment that Innovation was different from most other schools, and thus hard to adjust to without outside help.
This year, though, we here at the Beacon wanted to make the class of 2026’s first year at Innovation—and high school overall—manageable and fun, with tips from current sophomores and juniors that helped get us through our years of high school, displayed as quotes below.
Please be reminded that something that might work for someone else might not work for you, and that high school is a time to grow and figure out what you like! There’s no right answer. You got this.
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“There are 6 stairwells (i think) – don’t rely only on the main middle one.”
“This is cliche but cramming does not work well at this school. Study all materials and ask questions.”
“Do your virtual class on time and don’t leave everything for the end of the semester.”
“Don’t work yourself to death. take breaks and try to take time to yourself. make sure to manage your time well and find out what study methods work for you.”
“All that matters is be chill with your teachers and have a good friend group; once you get those, hs is amazing.”
-Jack Worsham, 11th
“Okay, listen up. I’m gonna be honest. This school is difficult. You might have trouble this year, and that’s okay. A lot of people struggled at first in their first year, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your teachers, you need to make sure to advocate for yourself; ask questions on things you don’t understand, go to help sessions, do whatever you need to. Find a good group of friends, people who support you. Don’t be scared to interact with sophomores and juniors, we’re not *that* evil. One last thing; you are not a number. You are not a letter. Your worth is not determined by a value in Infinite Campus. You are allowed to be happy and feel good about yourself without having straight As. Don’t forget that before anything you are a living, breathing entity, and you deserve to give yourself some credit. Don’t be too hard on yourself, little freshie. :)”
“Let yourself work at your own pace; the successful people around you are not the literal embodiments of success and are simply the people around you that are working with what they have.”
-Natalie Tan, 10th
“Do assignments as soon as possible.”
“please get sleep, it’s important. Seriously though, I would say, if you’re moving from a public school setting, the rigor of IA will likely be much different. Incoming freshman need to keep their work done, and do their best to not get behind. No slacking with this workload!”
-Cayden Walsh, 11th
…And lastly,
“Don’t be stuck.”
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Good luck to the incoming freshmen this year, and to all students and staff at Innovation Academy!