Incoming first-year students at Townsend Harris High School are excited to begin their four-year journey as Harrisites. However, while upperclassmen received their courses on the last day of school, first-year students will either receive theirs at next week’s freshman orientation or on the first day of school.
As incoming freshmen, we believe first-year course schedules should be shared earlier in the summer, especially at a high-performing high school such as THHS. Release of the schedules ahead of time would help students feel less anxious about entering an entirely new environment which they’ve never experienced before.
At other high-performing high schools, such as The Bronx High School of Science and Queens High School for the Sciences, courses for first-year students were released on August 1st and on July 18, respectively, according to freshmen from each school that we consulted.
Even if most freshmen students take the same courses, every student still needs time to prepare themselves mentally before the new school year. If schools like Bronx Science and QHSS can release first-year courses weeks in advance, THHS should too. Kiki Chang, an incoming freshman at The Bronx High School of Science, said, “[When I found out about my courses,] there were some classes that I didn’t get into, and that I wanted to get into, and it helped me prepare.”
Getting our schedules earlier would relieve first-year students of anxiety. If, for instance, a first year student noticed a discrepancy in their schedule, having access to their schedule weeks in advance as opposed to on the first day of school would give them more time to plan to request changes. Starting high school is already overwhelming with new faces, a new building, and higher expectations. Releasing schedules would relieve students so that they can know what to expect. “If I’m going into a class, I know that I might want more help, so I would want to look at it earlier, just so I’m not coming into the class knowing nothing about it,” said incoming freshman Caitlyn Rissmeyer.
Some might say that all freshmen will be taking courses like freshman English, freshman social studies, and writing process, so they should know enough to prepare already. However, students also feel more comfortable knowing their teachers in advance. They ask people they know at the school about their teachers’ expectations and prepare themselves mentally for what’s to come.
Knowing as much as students can about what to expect means a lot to people in a new situation. By releasing freshman schedules earlier, it would make the transition from middle school to high school more seamless and help students start their year with less stress.
