“I was terrified. My heart was beating 1,000 miles per hour, and then some dude pushed me in front of the bus. While I was under the bus, I found $5, but then a bully took it from me. So I decided to eat my lunch in the bathroom stall while I cried,” said sophomore Madison Hanson describing an imaginary terrible first day of school.

Everyone approaches that first day of school a little differently then the next. Some wake up that morning just to remember their summer is ending today, and some students stay up late picking out clothes and mastering their back-to-school hair. Some are jittery and scared of what the day may bring; while others are excited for all the new teachers and the possibilty of new friends.

“I was expecting the first day to be really scary. I brought two paper bags to throw up in,” said sophomore Tabitha Bacon.

Thanks to the help of teachers pointing the way and hall letters posted well, sophomore Ryan Reed did not get lost the first day of school although he did get a bit lost the second day.

“I was expecting it to be a lot scarier than it was,” said Hanson.

Television shows give newcomers to high school a bad idea of how the first day of high school is. They show kids being thrown into the trash can and being called names by upperclassmen. This behavior is actually not tolerated as stated by the anti-bullying rules in the handbook and posted in classrooms. The back-to-school rally in the Wildcat Arena also reinforce those expectations.

Being new to a school is hard enough but when you know your second tardy is strictly punished it makes your worry of getting to class on time even greater. To hear how strict school was going to be was very surprising to all of us who expected more freedom.

“I was so mad because I was expecting to have more freedom in high school,” said Hanson.

“I didn’t expect all the new rules,” said Reed.

Although they may not be new rules, they were being newly enforced. Although the day had its twists and turns, it had its fair share of surprises.

“By the end of the day, I was excited for the year because the first day went a lot better than expected,” said Reed.

And for me, a sophomore, I would consider my first day a success.