Four years of high school laid out in front of you, each like a jigsaw puzzle you have to solve before the end of the year. For the past year, that jigsaw puzzle has become increasingly hard. The puzzle piece count has gone from 500 to 2,000. 

My freshman year was worlds different than what the class of ‘24 is facing right now. Of course, all of my classes were in person with no mask in sight.

That may have been a year that just came and went, without actually realizing it meant something. Every Friday during my freshman year we had a homeroom, a clean 20-minute homeroom. It was something I looked forward to every single week.

I spent my time eating snacks and watching The Office in a cold classroom with some of my best friends. Of course, I was a freshman and really had no proper hold in the high school ladder. 

The challenges were fitting in, dealing with classes that were difficult, and, all in all, just learning the ropes of high school.

For any freshman class, those challenges still ring true. Since the class of 2024 is dealing with a freshman year unlike anything we have seen before, it is essential to find what makes you happiest. For some freshmen, furthering their Catholic faith is a large part of their life. 

Freshman Hannah Greisen states, “I am able to grow in my Catholic faith and continue to be so grateful that a large portion of my friends feel the same way I do.”

For Hannah, she has found that her Catholic faith gets her involved in the Notre Dame community.

Along with faith, sports are another large part of many freshman’s activities. Knowing that the class of 2024 is no exception when it comes to sports, Hannah is finding herself and ways to enrich her high school experience. Whether that be in early morning practice or early morning mass, Hannah has found a community inside the Notre Dame walls. 

Many of the freshmen feel lucky to be in a school that is such a rich learning environment. The biggest obstacles that all freshmen face are the classes that continue to challenge their ideas, their knowledge and their intellectual abilities.