First of all, stay out of my way. That’s a joke, but please, please don’t stand in the middle of the hallway.

    In the beginning, high school is strange and foreign and it seems like you’ll never learn the ropes. It appears, however, that most freshmen have adjusted to high school with ease, and found our campus to be a “welcoming but professional” environment. Most were pleasantly surprised at the lack of cliques at Pitman, the sense of family, and the diversity. They expected strict teachers, endless homework, and frightening upperclassmen, however…they discovered the variety of classes to take, extracurriculars, and an overall positive and accepting establishment.

 High school is meant to be a learning experience, but it doesn’t hurt to have a little insight ahead of time.

 Keep to the right when walking the halls.It helps the flow of traffic and we only have seven minutes to get to class. Don’t run to class though.

 Stay organized and study. Don’t slack off. You don’t want to be making up English 9 as a senior.

    Respect the staff. Your “jokes” aren’t so funny when you’re in work detail after school picking up trash in the quad.

Follow the dress code, but dress however you feel comfortable and confident. Own it.

Find out which teachers allow eating in class and bring a snack, because the days are long and you will be starving. Trust me.

    Above all else, be yourself, and know that these next four years will be full of mistakes and self exploration. You really will find yourself. Don’t shy away from it. Do your homework. No, really. Make friends with your teachers. No one will call you a teachers pet, and it’ll pay off when you’re seeking a small bump in your grade or extra help on a project.

Go to our sporting events. Our concerts. Our drama performances. Be a part of them, even. Get involved. There are over fifty clubs on campus, sports, drama, music. Find what you like and give it your all. Make the most of these four years because will fly by, and, I promise, pretty soon, you will start to feel like a high schooler, and not a freshman.

      Pitman isn’t the average high school, to say the very least. It will become a home away from home in your next four years. It will become the setting of some of your fondest memories. It will be the place you miss the most when you finally walk out of those doors for the last time.

    Freshman Ian Coelho mused, “Part of me always knew Pitman was different… Pitman is a place where the star football player can hang out with the drama kids”.