Juniors Burst Into A Year With New Campus, New People, New Course Options

We are four weeks into the school year and eleventh graders at Arrowhead Union High School have started their school year at North Campus.

Students experience an adjustment coming from South Campus (where freshmen and sophomores attend classes) to North Campus. North Campus features a slightly larger building and seniors.

“There’s a huge difference between the two schools, for me at least, I’ve noticed it. The seniors are definitely pretty intimidating. They were getting to class right away on the first day and I was struggling to even find my first hour. But they’ve been pretty helpful. I asked for some help and some girls showed me where my class was, so they definitely are nicer than they look. Overall, I think that was a huge change, just being with a brand new group of people then the freshmen we had last year. It’s also really exciting because we get Prom! I’m really excited for that!” says junior Katie Jamieson.

“Right off the bat, it was the building that really confused me. I was happy about having a little bit more freedom and flexibility with the rules but finding my classes was really tough. I had no idea where to go. The building is huge and looking at the school map just confused me. I still really like it way more the South Campus, but it was just a little confusing that first week,” says junior Tjse de Vries.  

With a new year comes homework, college visits, licenses and jobs. There are also more opportunities in class choices at North Campus. Students at North can choose to enroll in advanced art classes such as Ceramics, and Drawing and Painting Studio.

More offers for juniors at North Campus are College Accounting 1 & 2, Composition, Pre Calc, AP Physics, Psychology, and many others.

There is also a wide variety of elective classes such as Fashion Analysis, World of Foods, Human Relations and Consumer Auto, that are all options for only grades eleven and twelve.

“I’m pretty crammed at the moment. I’m starting my first job, as well as having golf everyday and double the homework then last year. It’s really tough and a change from sophomore year, but I still like it more. I really do like that everything is a little more independent and you’re sort of responsible for yourself and being successful. I like that responsibility,” says junior Mattie Kujawski.

Another thing changing for juniors is that most of them will be driving to school. With only a small amount of students obtaining their license at South Campus, almost all of the students at North have them now, since they are at least sixteen.

With a $180 parking permit paid for and a little blue tag on their rear view mirror, juniors are driving for the first time to school and experiencing something they may not like — the traffic.

Arrowhead traffic is known to be a stressful and long process.  It’s the juniors first year driving to North Campus and they are just getting a taste of this traffic.  

“I have to leave my house way earlier then when my mom did last year. It’s crazy, the traffic is so bad and no matter how early you leave you can rarely find a good parking spot,” says junior Haley Kalal.

Hopefully though, juniors will soon see, with the independence, freedom and responsibility, comes along a lot of fun, memories, and of course, the prom dance!