What I Wish I Knew as a Freshman

By Ellie W. ’27, published in The Belfield Banter

Going into your senior year is an indescribable feeling, simultaneously exciting and scary, unbelievable yet comforting. Looking back on the past three years, so much has happened, but sometimes I still feel like a freshman walking into the doors of Randolph for the first time. That’s the thing about learning: there is always something that will make you feel like you are just beginning and heading into uncharted territory.

To My Freshman Self: Throughout high school you will be challenged in all aspects of your life. You will struggle through cross country workouts on sweltering August afternoons, stay up far too late trying to cement every piece of information into your head before a test, spend hours brainstorming the best ways to serve on the honor council, and spend plenty of time wondering if you are doing enough. But throughout all of that you will have a support system. You will have friends who truly care about you and teachers who want to see you thrive. Whenever you need anything, all you have to do is ask. There will be plenty of bumps in the road but there will also be smiles, laughter, encouragement, and success.

If I could speak now to my freshman self, I would tell her not just to soak in every moment or participate fully in the St. Anne’s community, but I would tell her this is only the beginning of the beginning. Next year I’ll be a freshman again, which seems to me a fitting metaphor for all of life: once you finish one chapter, you open a new one full of new decisions, possibilities, and things to learn. Today, on my last first day of high school, I know that I will have many more first days, all supported by my 14 years at St. Anne’s, which provided the foundation for the way I go about my life.