The first week of school began on Monday, August 26, and the new freshman class of 2023 had a chance to look around the school and find the location of their classes during freshman orientation.

Freshman orientation occurred Thursday, August 22. The freshmen who did come took advantage of the opportunity to learn more about AHS and their teachers.

Transitioning from middle school to high school can be a big change to many students and might be difficult to adjust to how high school works. Freshmen year can be nerve racking, scary and overwhelming.

When students first came into the school, they were told to make their way into the auditorium where counselors and administrators were introducing themselves. The new principal, Mark Merell also introduced himself to the class of 2023.

Mark Merell is an interim principal and will be working until a permanent principle is found to replace him. He has been in FCPS working as a teacher and administration.

Principal Merell gave the class of 2023 advice on high school and what they should or shouldn’t do on the first day and years to continue. He also told them to not mess up their first impression because “you never get a second chance for a first impression,” Merell said.

Principal Merell also went over how the bell schedule was going to work this year. He said that the warning bell would ring two minutes before class began and when the actual bell rang the teachers would lock their door.

If students are late, they have to go to one of the sweep stations where they are asked for information about their name, student ID and what class they are running late to. If you are late multiple times you will have to attend detention afterschool. Tardies get reset every month.

“I was going to class, but I didn’t know about the sweep station that was happening. The door was closed in my face and I had to go to the sweep station. A teacher then escorted me to class,” junior Siryet Girma said.

Afterwards, they were told to go to their first period from their red day schedule. If they needed any help finding their classes, there were many leadership students in the hallway that would help guide them.

They stayed in each class for five minutes and had ten minutes to find their classes. After going

through their red day classes, they then went through their white day classes. This lasted from 9:30am-11:20 am.

Once done with getting to each of their classes, they made their way to the gymnasium for a pep rally.

In the gymnasium, they were met with marching band students who played music and the cheerleading team that did a quick performance. While in the gymnasium, leadership students asked one person from each side of the bleachers to pick a song off a topic and then the winner was chosen.

One of the topics that they were asked was to pick a song that reminded them about their childhood. Each side had a representative that picked a song and students voted on which side had the better song.

The pep rally was not long and only took about 20-30 minutes. Once it was done students went to the buses that they were assigned, walked home or had someone pick them up.

Overall, going to freshmen orientation was helpful because on the first day of school freshmen won’t get lost and will know their way around the school. Hopefully freshmen take the advice given to them by the staff and have a successful year.