Next fall, freshmen and sophomores will enter Loy Norrix for the first time, and some will be completely unprepared. It will be even more stressful than a normal year, with freshmen having lacked a regular eighth grade, which would have helped the transition from middle to high school. Sophomores will be almost as unprepared, many who have never walked the halls of Loy Norrix. However, some seniors have shared some important advice and wisdom.
Senior Claudia Ligman plans on going to Lee Honors college at Western Michigan University after graduation.
Lee’s Honor College annually offers $50 thousand in scholarship money to its students, and they represent all 51 academic programs on WMU’s campus, according to Western Michigan's website.
Ligman said as advice to new students, "High school really does fly by. Take the classes that sound even a little interesting, and go to the sporting events you can make it to! Really work on your time management skills freshman and sophomore year. It helps so much and is such an important skill for college."
Looking back at her time at Loy Norrix, Ligman said, "I wish I would have listened to my gut feelings, and I wish I was more outgoing. I think I would have given myself more room to grow."
Senior Kaleb Miller is going to Michigan Tech for mechanical engineering after graduating high school.
According to their website, Michigan Tech’s mechanical engineering program is ranked 27th in the nation. This is due to having awarded degrees for 35 consecutive years.
Miller's advice is, "Keep persistent with your classes because it's extremely easy to pick up bad habits," "I wish I had a better mindset my freshman year, I goofed off a lot and as the workload started getting more difficult it was hard for me to adjust.”
Photo Credit / Jcvertin
After graduation, senior Nolan Hughes plans on going to Kalamazoo College to study psychology. He then hopes to go on to get his masters and become a therapist.
Kalamazoo Colleges' admitted students have an average GPA of 3.9 and 91% of students took advanced classes, as stated on K College’s website.
When asked about information he wished he knew as a freshman, Hughes said, "If you have the access and ability to do it, just bring food from home instead of getting school lunch. It most likely will taste better and make you feel better. Also it saves you the headache of waiting in line."
The advice Hughes would give to new LN students is, "Participate -- participate in class, participate in groups of friends, participate in some type of club/sport. Now know your limits and don’t overburden yourself, but not only will participating make your time more enjoyable, you’ll create a lot more connections with teachers and other students."
Senior Tegan Ott explained, "I wish I knew as a freshman that while grades do matter, they shouldn’t be a defining point in your life, and you can still take time to be a teenager and hang out with your friends and go on adventures. You’ll have old friends and make new ones and there’ll be drama, but it will not matter in the long run".
Ott’s plans for after graduation are to travel during the summer. He will be attending Grand Valley State University’s Frederik Meijer Honors College in the fall to pursue a Bachelors of Nursing."
Grand Valley State University currently has over 23 thousand students with an average class size of 26. GVSU can also boast that 90% of their graduates are employed, as claimed by their website.
Ott said, as a final tip, "While the next four years look long, now they’ll be gone before you know it, so join the sports and clubs that look interesting even if you’re not experienced. Nine out of 10 times everyone’s faking it until they make it, so just have fun".