If you know me already, you would know I’m a freshman. I came to Notre Dame completely blind of what Notre Dame even was besides your average high school. I came from a small public school with no older siblings here and only a few friends. I don’t regret my decision to come here and if you are considering coming here as a freshman, I encourage you 100%. 

When I first got to NDA, like I mentioned before, I had only a few friends. I got lucky, and they already had a pretty big group of friends that they knew here, and now they are my friends as well. When you get here, I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and talk to everyone. You will have so much more fun and make so many new friends. Knowing who most people are and having had at least one conversation with a lot of people brings a sense of comfort and a feeling that you’re welcome. 

A big part of the social world at NDA is sports games too. Even if you don’t like sports, go to the games because you will meet so many people and they’re so so fun. 

Some things that I would have liked to have known before I got into high school is that high school is what you make it. It’s the attitude you bring everywhere with you. Take for example, the school dances, if you walk into them saying how boring it is going to be, chances are it’s going to be very boring. Get into the middle of the crowd knowing how much fun it can be and dance with everyone and it is literally so much fun. Stick with your friends who want to have fun. Same goes for classes, sports games and any social gatherings outside of school.

Also I will warn you not to pick classes based on what your friends are taking. Take what you want to take because it will pay off. I took all of the classes that I wanted to take, not what my friends took. I have plenty of friends in my classes and my classes are going great because I did what I needed to do. Plus, most of the teachers are so much fun and if you build a relationship with them during class time it makes class so much more enjoyable even if you don’t have any friends in your class, which will rarely ever happen. Don’t waste your time on things that you don’t want just to go with the flow. 

Anyway, high school at NDA is so much fun and I encourage everyone to give it a try if you are considering it. Coming from a freshman with a huge transition to high school, it was made very easy and super easy to get used to.