THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 6, 1996 TAG: 9609060062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 105 lines
FACE IT. Freshmen have it tough.
Take Rosali Villanueva, 14, who on Tuesday officially became a freshman at Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach.
It was 7:15 a.m. when Rosali, and her two friends, Eimy Espinoza, 15, and Eirene Espinoza, 16, got off cheezwagon No. 170 at the school's side parking lot.
Rosali showed no emotion as her eyes scouted the unfamiliar territory. Everything looked cool, so far, even though in the back of her mind she was aware that because she's a freshman, she's in the lowest layer of the rigid social strata of high school.
For many students, opening day means (besides premiering those brand-spanking-new Filas) being back to homework, tests, over-priced cafeteria lunches, tests, hall passes, tests and quizzes. For freshmen like Rosali, it means all this, plus foreign faces, a new school, new rules, knowing no one and an instant label as a nobody.
The first 15 minutes of high school for Rosali and her pals was a frenzy of finding familiar faces and first-bell classes. Even Eirene, a sophomore who was supposed to know the school by now, seemed to have forgotten the terrain as she led Rosali and fellow freshman Eimy up and down the same flight of stairs three times.
Then came that nasal intercom voice: Students should be moving toward their first-bell class at this time. I repeat, students should be moving toward their first-bell class.
It was 7:25 a.m. First bell was at 7:30.
Rosali, Eirene and Eimy walked briskly, searching for classrooms while being careful to look like they knew where they were going.
Room 123. That was Eimy's. Later, man.
Next stop was Eirene's at 220. Bye.
Finally, Rosali stopped in front of Room 217 - Algebra foundations.
``This is it,'' she said. ``Found it.''
With only seconds to spare.
Rosali's was the classic scenario of the lost freshman - a situation that causes nightmares.
Tallwood freshman Mike Sutherland, 15, got no sleep Monday night. ``I was just wondering if I was gonna get my butt kicked by a senior,'' he said.
Butt-bruisings are uncommon, but wizened upperclassmen everywhere still know how to welcome naive newcomers.
In some New York schools, students celebrate ``Freshmen Friday'' on the first Friday of the school year.
Raj Suchak, 20, a 1994 graduate of City Honors High School in Buffalo, N.Y., said it's customary for upperclassmen to throw eggs and splat shaving cream on freshmen. Holding a freshman upside down by the ankles for a head dip into a toilet is another upperclassmen ritual, Raj said. (Maybe shower caps should be added to the school supply list).
But you, yeah over there, the one with your class schedule in one hand and the map of the school in the other. Don't heave a sigh of relief just yet, thinking, ``Only in New York.'' Local freshmen have reasons to freak, too.
Travis Moore, 17, now a seasoned junior at Booker T. Washington High in Norfolk, remembers his first days on the freshmen frontier. One rainy afternoon right after the beginning of the school year, Travis and his few lowly friends were rapping under the school overhang while waiting for the late bus. Two upperclassmen walked up to Travis and his friends and started pushing them around.
``It was scary because I was a freshman and I didn't know a whole lot of people,'' Travis said.
Now, it's his turn, and Travis admits to having a little fun with freshmen. He also has a little advice for them.
Be wary of asking upperclassmen where the bathroom or library is located, he said. The response will be, ``It's on the third floor.'' Booker T. only has two floors. Another thing, Booker T. does not have is a pool.
Over at Tallwood, freshmen should think twice about carrying a heavy book bag. Upperclassmen occasionally pull the weighty backpack of a wandering freshman to make them lose their balance. (That's what lockers are for guys. Use 'em.)
Oh, and one more thing, get rid of the phony senior get-up.
Karen Espeleta, 17, a rising senior at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, characterizes freshmen at her school as loud and obnoxious. They try too hard to talk and dress maturely. That only makes them look immature, she said.
But there are those freshmen who don't sweat over high school hierarchy.
Jennifer Presa, 14, a rising freshman at Salem High School in Virginia Beach, knows what upperclassmen think about first-time high schoolers.
``They think we're not as mature,'' she said. ``I don't really care what they say about us, because they used to be freshman too.''
Former freshmen have their own advice for new ninth-graders.
Karen suggests that freshmen don't to be so ``fresh,'' as in cool.
``The best thing to do is to be yourself,'' she said.
Travis said he can't stand it when freshmen think they know everything. It takes time, he said, to ``learn the ropes of high school.'' MEMO: Michelle Mizal is a junior at ODU. She wrote this story during a
summer internship at The Virginian-Pilot. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON color photos/The Virginian-Pilot
A little apprehensive on her first day of school, freshman Rosali
Villanueva peeks in on her first-bell classroom at Tallwood High in
Virginia Beach.
As classes change, Rosali and her friends walk briskly, searching
for classrooms while being careful to look like they know where they
are going.
Cartoon
BY CHRISTOPHER PEACH, SENIOR AT MAURY HIGH SCHOOL by CNB