Young Questions Answered by Old Folks: The Advice Collected Over 3-4 years
By: Audrey McGee & Charisma Ganye
High school can be a hard transition for many. Without the proper context of high school, certain tips and tricks stay on the down-low. To help with the transition, Torch has gathered questions from incoming sophomores and freshmen to be answered by your favorite Torch staffers, Charisma and Audrey! Audrey is a junior this year while Charisma is a senior. Our school years have been pretty eventful. From floods to a pandemic, we have learned a thing or two about high school. We know that there is no Ned’s Declassified for high school but hopefully some “old people’s” wisdom can help some of the young ones. So may the wisdom begin!
Q: Ayden Mitchell, Freshman: “What is it like being close to the end of high school? Also, what do you plan to do afterward?”
Answered by Charisma: I will say, thinking about your future is scary but absolutely necessary. It’s very weird being close to the end of my high school career. Just thinking about it really makes me see how far I’ve come. It’s the closing of one chapter in my life which is such a scary thought but also very very exciting. After high school I’m going to OU to do marketing and film, at least that is the plan as of right now. I didn’t bother thinking about what I wanted to do until late junior year and right before senior year which was not the thing to do. All it did was add a lot of unnecessary stress on top of applying to college. Now that I do somewhat know what I want to do, it makes life all the easier. I feel like behind this question you’re just a bit scared when it comes to the future. What I can advise you on is this: Don’t let it worry you. For me, it didn’t take me too long before I realized what I wanted to do and that was after over 11 years of saying that I had no idea what I wanted to do. Soon enough, all the cards fall into place and you won’t believe that you spent time worrying about it.
Q: ANON Freshman: “Will there be seniors mixed with the grades 10-11?”
Answered by Audrey: Yes there will! It depends on the kind of classes you will take. Like I took AP Government my junior year and 70% of the classes ended up being seniors. That stuff can seem weird when people in your classes start having beards, but everyone is just a person trying to get done with high school as soon as possible. At the end of the day, some of my favorite classes were the ones with nihilistic seniors ready to end the year. I even had classes with seniors my freshman year. You can pretty easily predict how many people of a certain grade will be in your class. Just don’t be afraid of talking to upperclassmen and have fun in your classes! I sense some worry about being in a classroom with a senior. My advice is this: act like they are people! They are teenagers just like you just trying to get through highschool. If you don’t worry about them and be yourself, you will be just fine in highschool.
Q: Madilynn Mansfield, Freshman: “While keeping up with school work, getting good grades, and being an athlete, how do I make time for friends and family outside of school?”
Answered by Charisma: You don’t. That’s a joke actually. It’s a lot of give and take. There are some weeks you’ll have no time to hang out with friends and other weeks where you’ll have loads of free time. Personally making time for friends was actually somewhat easier than you might think. I would often do school related activities with my friends to have a way to hang out with them while still being involved in the school community. Also being in band, I was around the majority of my friends most of the time. Making time for family was a bit more difficult but even doing the smallest things together was at least a step in the right direction. There seems to be a sense of anxiety associated with all the activities you feel like you need to do in high school. The thing is, you don’t have to do everything and there will always be time for the things that you actually want to do. There’s no need to let those anxious thoughts get in the way. I promise you that.
Q: ANON, Freshman: “What are the requirements for driver’s ed, and how do I get in?”
Answered by Audrey: Driver’s Ed is not necessarily through Jenks. Jenks does have a program that you can use and sign up for through the Jenks community education website. However, I ended up doing my driver’s ed through Oklahoma Driving school. You have to have certain documents in line to be able to sign up but most of that is online. From there you show up to a couple of classes at the facility you choose and will have driving times to schedule with your instructor later on. Once you have done the required hours for driving, you can sign up for the driving test. Once you have passed the driving test you take a specific piece of paper they give you to the DMV to get your full licenses. If you do take Drivers Ed through the high school you just need to pay for the class through Jenks Community Education and be 15 ½.
Q: Dylan Jones, Eighth Grade: “How does lunch work?”
Answered by Audrey: Lunch is divided into three different times. There will be first lunch (A), second lunch (Freshman Lunch), third lunch (B) and fourth lunch (C). The lunch you get will depend upon where your third hour is located. One thing to note is that not all freshmen will have freshman lunch. You may be a freshman with a third hour in building 5 and have a third lunch (C). I ended up never having freshman lunch because my third hour freshman year was in building 5.
High school can be a tough time for everyone. Some questions just have to be answered by someone with some experience in high school. At the end of the day you just have to have fun with school because before you know it you will be a senior! Don’t worry too much about your day to day. As the years fly by you won’t even remember most of the days you spent in your classes. Millions of people go into high school every year, you just have to take it head on!