Like every year, the beginning of the school year brings in many new incoming freshmen to South High School. Moving from a small tank to a huge pond can be a difficult change to overcome, and usually, some worries arise in those beginning weeks. So here are a few high school myths incoming freshmen may have at the start of the year, and the advice that other South students gave that goes along with them.

Myth #1: Flex Mod is going to be very hard from the way my old schedule was!

Flex Mod, something that is still pretty new for South, can be a hard thing to adjust to and can be a difficult change. With conflicts, and more than one teacher for each subject, and each student’s schedule being different every day of the week, it can be hard to get used to it all in the beginning. Sophomore Sunny Xiong advice was, “It [Flex Mod] is a lot easier than it appears. Don’t think so hard on your schedule and just do it. You’ll be able to get through it and at some point, you get accustomed to Flex Mod.”

Here, this myth is not fully true because though Flex Mod can be hard at the start, after a few weeks, students are able to become accustomed to Flex Mod and all of its surprises it may hold in store for students, but getting through Flex Mod can be overcome.

Myth #2: High school gives you loads of homework!

Compared to homework students may receive in elementary or middle school, one high school fear some may have is the homework load. Hours worth of homework that takes hours to do, along with trying to be an involved student! The advice Junior Helen Flynn gave was, “Freshmen year is really just a transition year into high school, it won’t be too stressful. Though it gets harder every year, as long as you are willing to keep up with your work and not procrastinate, you will be fine!

This here shows that yes, high school will at some point give lots of homework, especially depending on what classes are taken each year. But if enough hard work is put into it, high school won’t necessarily give loads of homework.

Myth #3: Upperclassmen are mean to underclassmen!

Sometimes this fear comes from movies and such that people watch. Freshmen being shoved into lockers pushed around by their older schoolmates, or just plain being bullied by them. Though bullying never really has stopped, this is a myth. Senior Angela Yang said, “I would tell them not to worry about that because there is so much going on in high school that that shouldn’t be something to worry about. Though upperclassmen will always be upperclassmen, most of the upperclassmen you’ll meet are really nice and friendly so don’t be worried about it.”

This shows that though bullying hasn’t come to a complete stop, that upperclassmen can actually be very helpful when it comes to needing their help for things and that upperclassmen can be met in classes, sports, or other activities, giving enough opportunities to learn that they aren’t too mean.

Overall, though high school can be scary for some and it is something that needs adjusting to when given time, it is something that can be accustomed to. When lots of patience, time, perseverance, and effort, is put into trying to get through it, high school is survivable. In the end, once freshmen or any students new students get used to the big changes of middle to high school, South High School isn’t so scary for most after all!