“We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.”—Andrew Clark, Breakfast Club

Useless. Troubled. Worst student in the class.

These are words that suffocate a student’s educational self-esteem.

Transitioning from middle school to high school is intimidating. The congestions of the Armstrong staircases, entering the maze of doors, and figuring the 100 and 200 levels; the unknown territory of NHS isn’t any less nerve wracking.

With a climbing population estimating 2,000 students, the invisible stay unseen and those who strive can make their mark.

Plastered reds of “Everyone deserves a champion” circulate the atmosphere.

For entering freshman, Caleb Ducommun, walking into Door 3 feels like with a birthday — excitement exists, but bits of anxiety hover.

His blue cap armor shields his eyes as he sucks in his facade, shedding the naive eighth grader skin like a snake.

As Ducommun found himself sitting in his freshman guiding class, Freshman Seminar, he smirks smuggly soaking in the shocks of laughter that erupt from the classroom as he dumbfounds his leaders.

“I had to make a good reputation.”

A prominent fear in teen minds seem to not be education but a “reputation” — gaining a sense of belonging.

Unconsciously, teens categorize into secure groupings and hold jaded expectations against one another. Teens silently seek someone to make connections but may feel insecure to ask.

Much like Ducommun, students who wear hearts on their sleeve shield themselves from thorns with their tongues. Senior or freshman, boy or girl, Dean’s List or struggling educator, in the intimidating world of high school a story exists behind every hindered shell that centers every student together to survive the transition to the real world.

Now asked what his favorite part about high school, Ducommun confides that it’s Freshman Seminar because they explain and sincerely “want to talk” and get to know him.