Freshman year at Lane is a year of firsts. First day of high school, first off-campus lunch, first time getting lost in a school of 4,500 students.

Teachers learn a sea of new faces and students make their first high school friends.

All of these sudden changes can tend to be overwhelming for incoming freshmen. After the end of their first year, the newly welcomed students feel more at home with so much diversity with the extracurriculars, class options, and student body.

A year ago, Sydney Moncher, Div. 970, did not know a lot about Lane. It was after attending the Open House in 8th grade that she made the decision to come here.

Gigi Coscioni, Div. 970, also chose Lane for the wide range of opportunities and diversity within the school. The academics turned out to be challenging as well.

“I thought it was really good [freshman year], even though it was harder than I expected,” Coscioni said.

Coscioni was one of the many freshmen who took AP Human Geography, a new requirement for the CORE Honors track.

A self-proclaimed extrovert, Dianna Garzón, Div. 954,  added that the social aspect of high school is another reason why Lane was a good fit. With artistic, musically talented, or athletic students, there is always room for someone to find their niche.

“After picking Lane I was so scared that I’d end up hating it because of the vast number of people, and because of the environment.” Garzón said. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy, I knew it wouldn’t always be fun, but I felt like I somehow was meant to go here.”

Arianna Johnson, Div. 956, was glad to find that the community was an accepting place for all students.

“I was surprised about how accepting people are towards the LGBT community,” Johnson said. “But I was mostly taken aback by how much pride the students have in their school. Never have I seen a student body so united over their school.”

School pride might be a new concept for freshmen in September, but after transitioning into high school these past nine months they are now able to reflect on their first year at Lane.

After getting lost, attending the wrong classes, or even mixing up class times, it is noticeable that the class of 2019 has gotten more accustomed to life at Lane. With little hesitation, some were comfortable talking about their funniest “freshman” moments in their first few months at school.

“The first week of school I was in the wrong Biology class, and I kept on getting demerits and it said that I was cutting class,”  Coscioni said. “So we finally figured it out, but the first week of school I got a bunch of demerits.”

“My funniest–and probably most embarrassing–freshman mistake was probably mixing up third and 4th period. I have world studies third and PE/Health fourth,” Garzón said. After changing for what she thought was gym class, Garzón went to all three gyms to find a PE teacher and security guard who immediately asked her where she was supposed to be for third period.

“At the same time they both asked ‘freshman?’ and I nodded,” Garzón said.  “After chuckling forever, the high-five security guard told me to change and get to third period. Which I did, 40 minutes late.”

As their first year comes to a close, the freshman class should look back at all of their accomplishments in the last nine months. Whether they took an AP class or figured out the staircases, the once lost freshmen have shown that they are more adapted to life at Lane. 

Photo courtesy of (top to bottom): Ayanna Price, Isabelle Lacey, Connie Tat, Simran Katyal