Freshman Griffin Kelly first stepped foot on the McCallum campus for strength and conditioning camp this June, but it wasn’t until the first day of school that he visited the main hallway.
“There were a lot of people, but less than I thought,” Kelly said. “As soon as the bell rang and I was walking the main hallway, I kind of changed my mind and realized there are a lot of people here.”
Going from being the oldest students on campus to the youngest was a change for Kelly.
“It was kind of cool to see because in eighth grade, you’re the oldest kid and you see all the younger people. Now I see like 17- and 18-year-olds eating breakfast in the halls; it’s just kind of cool,” Kelly said.
Even though there are many students Kelly doesn’t know, many of his friends are at McCallum with him this year.
“I had a lot of people from Lamar that went to McCallum, probably like 80 percent, so I had a lot of my friends and a lot of people I know,” Kelly said. “It was kind of helpful because I could ask my friends, ‘Hey, where’s this class?’ or ‘do you know where this room is?’”
Freshman Henry Winter said that the transition from eight grade in middle school to ninth grade at McCallum was relatively smooth.
“It didn’t seem like too big of a change coming from Lamar,” Winter said. “The [MAC] administrators that came [to Lamar last year] made it seem like high school was going to be the biggest change ever: ‘You’re going die if you don’t do your two hours of homework a night.’ It’s really not that big of a deal.”
Not everything, though, is quite like middle school for freshman Nick Compton, who attended St. Francis last year as an eighth-grader.
“The hardest part about starting high school has been finding my way around the school and adjusting to the A and B schedule,” Compton said.
Despite having to make adjustments, Compton likes McCallum so far.
“[When I was] coming into high school, people told me that McCallum [was] very accepting and [that] you can make friends easily.” Compton said.
While Compton has found the environment to be welcoming, freshman Daryl Hale, who also came to MAC from St. Francis, said the transition to high school has been challenging.
“It was a big transition because I went to a small private school,” Hale said. “I shouldn’t have been scared because I know a lot of people here and knew at least one person in each one of my classes.”
Having friends to help you along makes it easier, but it’s still easy to get lost in the halls of McCallum.
“The first week is kind of confusing, and there are a lot of hallways,” Kelly said. “My classes are spread out a lot. I’ve been figuring it out, but it’s good to have my schedule handy.”
Evan after just a week at McCallum, Kelly already has some advice to give to his first day of school self.
“I think try to go in the main hallways as least as possible, and try to stay out of trouble, keep your head down and do your work, mind your own business, just do what you need to do.”