Most of the freshmen class scurries through the halls of their new school, nervous on what to expect on their very first day of high school. It’s scary for the most part and for everyone on their first day, but freshmen Tina Truong was quite the opposite. She couldn’t wait for the first day of high school, and she didn’t have butterflies like most incoming students would.

“I love how high school gives a variety of extracurricular activities. I can be involved in something that I have never tried and it gives me a chance to try new and different things. There just weren’t a variety of clubs that I was interested in when I was attending middle school,” Truong said.

The only thing Truong was nervous about high school was the fact that she had no idea who were in her classes. Having to stick with these classes for almost a year, it was nerve-wrecking not knowing if you had anyone to talk to in that class. However, Truong was enthusiastic to meet new people and make new connections. Not having homeroom in her middle school, Fairview South School, she likes to be talk to girls she might see in her other classes or take a break from her hard classes like advanced geometry.

“The class that I liked the best is advanced geometry. Math was always a favorite subject of mine and still is today. I went from regular geometry to advanced geometry and I thought it would be easy, but to be honest, advanced geometry is actually really hard at times. I was willing to take a challenge  and I always look forward to the next day in class,” Truong said.

Apart from her academics, Truong stepped out of her comfort zone and joined the variety of extracurricular activites Niles West had to offer. She joined the freshmen basketball team this year, continuing her passion for basketball since 6th grade in middle school. It was a time to make memorable memories and meet, yet again, more incoming freshmen just like her.

“I was able to make good memories and become friends with a lot of the girls I would never think I would talk to. Although basketball was separated into A and B team and it was tiring at time. We would always play as a team. It is just something that I will always remember and I was glad to meet an amazing group of girls and have them as teammates,” Truong said.

With basketball to fill up after school and weekends, Truong also made room for something she was interested in that other people might not be. Before high school, Truong loved listening to Korean pop music. Having the clubs here with other people who also like Korean pop music, Truong was able to join Korean club and Asian pop culture club.

“I always felt that I was different from everyone else because I listened to Korean music instead of american music, but music is music. At home, I am able to listen kpop and do what I love to do and now I am able to do these things even at school,” Troung said.

 With freshmen year almost coming to an end, Truong now knows what Niles West has to offer. For next year, she plans to try out broadcasting. Although she isn’t the type of person to speak for an audience, she wanted to try something she wasn’t comfortable with. Her friends pushed her towards this opportunity, which helped Truong out when signing up for next year’s classes.

“A piece of advice I would like to give to incoming freshmen is to have fun and find out what your interests are. High school gives us so many opportunities, so don’t just sit around and not do anything, but get up and find something that do. You might like or even love something that you never thought you would like or do, so take the advantage and explore new things,” Truong said.