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FRESHMAN JOURNAL
Behind the
Lines at Berkeley High
November 1999: Changes
© Copyright 1999 by Parents' Press
Our Berkeley (California) High School freshman has chosen to be anonymous so she can write more freely.
It seems like ages since school started. The short while we've been in school feels like a year. I'm finding A's not so easy to cut, although a few classes seem more tedious than hard.
Making friends was a struggle. It was a strain not to stick to familiar faces I knew from junior high. Having to change several classes due to faulty scheduling didn't help any either.
At times I feel locked in a world I can't escape, one where I have no free time, no time to talk on the phone or hang with buds. I rush off to classes I don't enjoy, I shove down lunch, I wave goodbye to the friends I never see and whose names I don't know. It seems as though I never have time to do anything but homework. Little things, like seeing the latest singing Gap commercial on TV, I'm missing very much.
I'm on my own now. That realization is hard to handle, along with the responsibility and work it brings. When given essays, we're simply told what kind and what to do. Long gone are the days when we worked on them in class, had help from the teachers, and were asked to have our friends read them over.
Thanks to a new regulation the principal came up with (frown!), freshman are not allowed work permits a move to boost our academic performance. The only work option this leaves us is working for the school itself.
The only up side of working there is
associating with people I might not otherwise talk to outside
of school. I can't say I like them all that much, but such is
life. It is teaching me how to deal with and work with different
kinds of people, although I still detest being the equivalent
of a janitor even if the title might be more politely termed
"maintenance assistant."
I'm looking forward to the fall play, "The Visit."
A few of my friends are in it, and the plot is a good one. It
should be interesting to see how well they handle it. I think
acting the parts of law-abiding citizens who come to be murderers
is difficult for anyone! I'm going to invite my grandma, which
will be a lot of fun. Anyone is allowed to come, so maybe I can
invite friends from other schools too.
Maybe my freshman year will be a tough one, but at least it will prepare me well for the years ahead.
Comments about this article? Send us an e-mail and we'll add your remarks to the feedback page.
Berkeley,
CA High School
Freshman Journal Archives
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