The first year of high school can be hard for everyone. A new school with new teachers, new classes, and more. This year, that experience is almost completely different. Usually, the sophomore orientation can give new students a firsthand look at where their classes will be. They can learn where the stairs to B-hall are, or how to get to the gym, but this time things were different.

I came into the high school mostly blind. One of my friends, junior Avery Lipkin, had given me instructions on where to go, but I had gotten lost regardless. Though the virtual orientation showed maps of the school, those aren’t the best for internalizing where I actually had to go. That’s one of the limitations of the virtual orientation, that it couldn’t truly simulate walking the halls of the school. On my first day, I learned how big the high school really was. I knew I started in H-hall from the sign outside, but my first class was in L-hall and I didn’t know where to go. I knew it was along “the terminal,” but I wasn’t quite sure what “the terminal” actually was. Though the signs in the hallways helped with finding some places, A-hall was a different experience. I couldn’t find the signs, and I was just horribly confused, and the lack of people I knew meant there was nobody to show me around.

I thought that the reason I got so lost was because it was my first time in the building, but when I asked Avery how her first day had been, she told a different story. She said that “what helped me was [my sister] Zoe showing me around the school… On the first day of school I did feel more prepared knowing where to go and certain tricks to get to classes on time after going to orientation and being shown around.” In my experience too, it was important to have people who would help with directions. Several of my teachers were happy to give me directions or even escort me to my next class. Regardless of whether it is a hybrid schedule or a not-pandemic situation, getting lost on the first day is a unifying experience for almost every sophomore.