I was fortunate enough to be able to spend all of high school at one school. However, being a freshman at Wakefield High School in Raleigh, NC is a…unique experience.
For the past several years, all of Wakefield’s freshmen have been forced to attend most of their classes at the 9th Grade Center, which used to be the Wake Forest Winn-Dixie. Here is a list of 8 things that you should understand if you ever had to endure freshman year in the Winn-Dixie
.1. Lunch rules were always stupid to you.
The smell of Bojangles always made it’s way over to the basketball court, and it honestly never made sense why we couldn’t just walk over and get lunch. If the juniors and seniors can drive off campus for lunch, why couldn’t we just walk right across the parking lot and get some chicken biscuits and sweet tea for lunch?
2. Finding your friends on the shuttle bus was the struggle.
Unless you and your friends coordinated ahead of time exactly which bus to meet on or walked together, it was a nightmare. The only thing worse than trying to find your friends was trying to find a seat on the bus if you were one of the last people out of the building.
3. PE class.
The choices were doing physical education at the 9th Center and go ice skating and bowling…along with playing pickle ball, ping pong, and lots of walking or go to the main campus and run the mile everyday, or week, or whichever. Either way, you probably hoped to get PE at the 9th Grade Center, even though the “gym” was tiny and the “locker rooms” were cramped.
4. Ohhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhh. Am I right, ladies?
If you are at least a junior, you have probably seen the video I’m talking about, and chances are it was the best thing that you have ever seen in your life, and chances are you probably have watched it at least fifty times.
5. Ms. Partridge was your favorite teacher.
Sadly, she passed away about a year ago, but she was definitely everyone's favorite teacher. Even if you didn't have Ms. Partridge, she was your favorite teacher because of the stories you heard about her classes and her easy-going and outspoken personality. And you probably still drive by Kangaroo and think of her.
6. Main Campus was scary to say the least.
The upperclassmen all looked intimidating in general. I had one class on main campus, and it always stressed me out trying to get through the sea of older kids and get to the dance studio. There were so many of them all crowded in the commons and none of them like you and it was just a very, very, stressful experience overall.
7. The lockers at the freshman center gave you unrealistic expectations.
Everyone used their lockers freshman year, but you didn't have the time to use your locker when you got to sophomore year. Classes at main campus were too far apart for you to switch out books, so you just kept everything in your backpack, which definitely was not expected. Freshman year, you probably kept extra notebooks, folders, paper and some textbooks in your locker. Once sophomore year hit, all extra supplies were either kept at home, in your car, or in your backpack.
8. The last day of freshman year was your favorite one.
The last day of freshman year meant freedom. No more having to take classes in a building with no windows, no more of the shuttle buses, and sadly, no more of you-know-who. You got to move on to sophomore year, to the place where no one used lockers, classes were spread out all over campus, and shuttle buses don't take you anywhere anymore.
