The first day of school brings many new things: new classes, new teachers, new lockers, and, one of the big ones, new students. Each year, a class of freshman enter high school, excited, nervous or downright terrified of what the year will bring them.

The transition from middle school to high school wasn’t easy for sophomore Mary Blake-Brock. Being apart of the first class in the freshmen center, it was hard for her to get used to the new school.

“I was really confused and I didn’t really know where anything was,” Blake-Brock said. “And I wish I had a tour guide.”

Last year, the freshman center was finished and ready for the class of 2018. It was brand new to everyone, even the people helping with the freshman orientation, so it was difficult for Blake-Brock to know where to go. This year, however, seems to be going pretty well, at least for freshman Jacob Balazentis.

“My teachers are good, so I’ve got good grades so far,” Balazentis said. “I like it [the freshmen center] because all of my classes are close together.”

Balazentis isn’t the only one who likes the freshman center. Freshman English teacher Tara Darlington likes the mixture of both freshman and other grades, a balance that was hard to get at the freshman campus.

“The freshmen are very much aware of being in a high school environment. It feels like a high school, it is a high school,” Darlington said. “They’re very aware of that mixed social group.”

In order to help freshman adjust to the school, sophomore class president Salil Gupta recently started a program called the Miller Mentors. This program gives freshmen mentors who know the freshmen center and the school well.

“Last year, we didn’t really have older students that had gone to the freshmen center at the main campus, so they told us they didn’t know what it was like,” Gupta said.

Gupta hopes that the program will cause interaction between freshmen and the rest of the school, as well as get freshmen to feel as if they are in high school now.

“They see a place for themselves as they get older in the school and how they will take on those roles and responsibilities,” Darlington said. “I’m expecting a lot of growth from my students. That’s the joy of teaching freshmen.”