This week, Humans of Sartell decided to dip into the student life and interview four of our SHS freshmen!

Connor Studer’s first year of high school has been treating him fairly well and has heard good things from his older sibling that have graduated. To Connor, Mrs.Bang brought him joy by making the class a fun time and very enjoyable. We were glad to hear that the upperclassmen have been treating Connor well even though some of his friends like to joke around and call him freshie.

Connor enjoys the new class structure compared to middle school and loves being able to sit next to his friends during lunch. One of his favorite memories from Sartell Middle School was going on the 8th-grade class trip to Valley Fair. Connor does not watch TV and doesn’t have a favorite Netflix/Hulu series.

Over the next three years of high school, he would like to try all of the foods classes because who doesn’t love food! Even though the new high school is in a different location, Connor is excited to see the new school but will miss being able to walk from the old High School to his friends’ house.

Maddy Kulus, another one of our Sartell High School Freshman, the first year of high school has treated her pretty good, she really enjoys Mrs. Richards because Maddy loves choir, and Mrs. Richards makes class a great time! Upperclassmen have treated Maddy well and have no complaints which is great to hear. When deciding if she likes the SMS or SHS better, her choice would have to be High School because we have bigger hallways and lockers. She also enjoys having longer and fewer classes than at the middle school.

Maddy’s favorite memory from middle school is the time spent in SA with her teacher, Maddy loved how her teacher made class fun. Like every other high school student, there is a time for Netflix watching when appropriate and Maddy’s favorite TV show is Stranger Things.  Like Connor, Maddy would like to try culinary classes during her high school career. Maddy is also very excited about being at the new high school location.

Maggie Fandel is one of the lovely freshmen at SHS and gave a little insight into her first year at Sartell High School.

With her first year coming to an end, Maggie thought a little bit about how she has changed over the past year, “I’ve gotten better at doing things on my own, like taking notes in class.” Maggie says she is enjoying high school, and definitely prefers it to middle school. She further detailed her opinion saying, “I just think there are a lot more opportunities, you can choose electives, which really helps. You don’t have to sit through boring classes.”

She also explained what she thinks is the big difference between high school and middle school,  “It’s a different vibe, people are just more independent and more mature in some ways.”

Maggie has an older brother in the school, senior Jacob Fandel, and had some thoughts to share, “He’s a good role model. Try to follow in his footsteps, but it’s pretty hard… [He’s] very smart, don’t know if I can relate.” Because of her older brother, Maggie has the luxury of getting rides to school instead of taking the bus, “Yeah, it’s pretty good, listen to some good music. I mean he doesn’t have a backpack, which I don’t know why so he makes me carry his stuff, but only in the car so it’s okay.”

The fear of most freshman coming into high school is simply being a freshman. Maggie shared her experience with upperclassmen since coming to the school, “With my older brother and the dance team, I’ve met a lot of upperclassmen, and I haven’t really met any that were super down on freshman.”

Maggie talked about some of the TV shows she has been watching lately, “I recently watched The Umbrella Academy on Netflix, and it was actually really interesting, but you know, Grey’s Anatomy is always a good show.” Finally, if she could meet three legendary people she said, “I’d probably want to spend a day with Beyonce, a famous scientist, and a professional dancer.”

Next up is Carter Bright, who sat down to talk about his personal freshman experience.

The move from middle school to high school was not huge for Carter, “They both feel the same.” He does enjoy the freedom of being able to choose his classes in high school, and so he slightly prefers high school. Carter mentioned after some thinking, “The only main difference is when you get here in the morning, you can go to your locker without having to wait a long time.” 

Carter shares the school with his older brother Cole Bright; he gave his thoughts on Cole, “Ehh, I don’t know, he’s kinda weird.” Carter is yet another freshman who does not take the bus due to his connections, “I get rides to school most of the time, some from my brother, some from my friends.”

Carter gave his opinions on the myth that freshman are constantly put down by upperclassmen, “I think it’s just a joke, I don’t think people actually say ‘stupid freshman’ unless they’re kinda stuck up, but most of the time people don’t like them back.”

With the freedom the high school offers of choosing classes, Carter had no complaints when it came to classes or teachers, “Classes are classes, I haven’t had a really bad class yet. Smith’s pretty cool, with math, she’s more like a friend who will help you do work.”

Learning more about Carter, he said he listened to a variety of music, but that he regularly listened to The Weeknd and SZA. A favorite article of clothing is a good hoodie or any “comfortable clothes that actually look cool.” Lastly, he gave his top three greatest legends of all time: “Michael Jackson of course, Beyonce, and I don’t know about the third one.” The third greatest legend of all time is to be determined at a later time.

Stay tuned for our next article, Sartell High School Sophomores.