From Freshman to Freshman

by Connor Zimmerman on February 27, 2020


Creative Non-Fiction


by Kate Ward ’23

Dear Kate,

You’re now almost done with your freshman year of high school. It’s been a long and winding road full of trials and tribulations, but you made it through, even when you thought you wouldn’t. I’m proud of you. Fourteen is a tough age and you’ve made it. I’m writing from Providence College, where you’ll be going to school after you graduate. I know you haven’t even begun to think about college, but I know you want to be an author. I’m currently writing to you from my dorm, and I, too, am in the midst of my freshman year! We are nearly there. PC will open up a world of possibilities that you wouldn’t dream of even in your dizziest daydream. I’m going to tell you something right now that you probably won’t believe. You’re going to be studying in London in your sophomore year of college, imagine that. The Harry Potter fan in you will combust, I can bet on that. But it will be new and scary and so much fun. You’ll open yourself up to an entirely new culture, education, and new friends.

Your sophomore year will be tough, as you’ll take chemistry. It will forever haunt you, but you’ll never use it again. Your friends will also show their true colors, but if I can offer some advice, them doing so is not your fault in the slightest. You’ll experience a lot of personal growth and often question yourself and what you’re doing, but that’s okay; it will all help in the coming years. All I can say about sophomore year is to hang in there, and it will all work itself out.

Junior year is when things get really good. You’ll meet your true friends and work extraordinarily hard on school work as usual. ACT and SAT prep, well…that’s a trip you’re going to have to figure out because I’ve blocked that out. Please, please remember that your AP scores don’t define your efforts or who you are as a person. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your friends for help and share your anxieties about applying to schools. Also, keep on killing it in field hockey; it will get you places you never would have thought possible.

Hey senior! Congratulations on getting into PC! Welcome to the big leagues, and congratulations on becoming an all-county athlete. I told you things would get better after sophomore year. I told you you would make real friends. Enjoy the summer, do what you love, and have so much fun working with Tessa at the stables; it’ll be a blast. Take every moment at home and tuck it away in your heart because you will get homesick. It doesn’t matter how many times you tell yourself you won’t. Just because you’re breaking out of a small town and a small family doesn’t mean you won’t get homesick. And please thank Mom and Dad for helping you and supporting you every step of the way. Tell them you love them. Tell them for me because right now I’m missing them. Give the dog a kiss and clean the fish tank. See you in McVinney.

Much love,

Kate

A thought bubble containing words associated with freshman
Photo courtesy of flickr.com