With the end of the semester quickly approaching, finals are now upon us, and the freshmen are learning to prepare for them for the first time ever. With support from teachers and OVS counselor Robert Brunelle, there is much faith that the freshmen can succeed.
Mia Linsmeier started at Ojai Valley School in second grade, left for another school, and ultimately came back in seventh grade. She explained her experience so far as a freshman at OVS has been great and she has felt very supported by her peers and teachers.
“It really comes down to who you surround yourself with,” said Mia.
Mr. Brunelle makes a similar point. He teaches and supports all grades through Social Emotional Learning classes (SEL). These classes are meant to uplift and guide students through their high school experience.
Since freshmen are new to high school, they have extra SEL classes where they are taught about finals and how to manage their time. Mr. Brunelle emphasizes that the people you surround yourself with and the attitude with which you take on challenges will affect your high school experience drastically.
“Having a good friend group or support system is great because when you’re stressed, you have people to ask who you’re comfortable with,” said Mr. Brunelle.
When preparing for finals, freshmen commonly get very stressed in anticipation of what they are going to be like since it is most of their first time taking any kind of final.
Joycelyn Liu is a new international student this year from Jiangsu Xuzhou, China. Being an international student comes with its own set of challenges–not only are you starting high school, but you are thousands of miles away from your family and friends. Language barriers can also be very difficult to overcome. Learning vocabulary in both English and biology is hard enough for someone who has English as their first language.
“Biology is the most difficult but also the most interesting one,” Joycelyn said. “I’ve never gotten to dissect a real animal before, and it was really cool.”
Starting high school comes with 100 different sets of challenges, but OVS faculty works hard to help the students overcome them.
From learning new languages to test anxiety to making new friends, our freshmen are in for a busy and fun year.