“I’m Just Along for the Ride, We’ll See How It Goes”: How Freshmen Are Adjusting to Their First Year of High School… Online

Freshman Olivia Nelson’s goals for her high school experience are to meet new friends and prepare herself for her future. Nelson was among the many students who attended the Freshmen Connect Day, finding it to be a fun way to become familiar with her new peers and reconnect with some of her classmates from Happy Valley Middle School. “It was super fun, I got to meet new people and I also got to be wi...

Coming from Franciscan Montessori Earth School to La Salle, freshman Milan Cieslak aspires to make his parents proud while at La Salle.  “It’s definitely a very big change for me, and I really enjoy it,” Cieslak said when asked about his adjustment from FMES to high school.  In October, Cieslak joined a group of his classmates to participate in different stations around campus for Fres...

Freshman Violet Sheehan dove into art at the age of three and has been creating it ever since. Sheehan is excited to be a part of the art program this year at La Salle. Her mother attended Oregon State University where she majored in art, so Sheehan has “always been exposed to art,” she said. Sheehan’s mother is now a kindergarten teacher and has always had closets filled with a variety of di...

Freshman Reese Nachbur began his freshman year with a clear objective — to make new friends at La Salle.  On Freshmen Connect Day, Nachbur’s favorite activity was playing a game of pickleball, where he got to meet other students in his class.  However, Nachbur still finds himself missing the social aspect of school, which he is not finding on Zoom. "I miss being able to see people's faces," h...

Freshman Keri Glad doesn’t only have hopes of returning to in-person school this year — she also has dreams of getting a scholarship for water polo to Pepperdine University or UCLA.  Glad attended St. Clare School before coming to La Salle and has been playing water polo for four years. She has also participated in rock climbing for 10 years.  Coming into high school, Glad said she wa...

6-foot-3 freshman and athlete Grant Ellison said that he has some big aspirations for his time in high school, so he doesn’t have a lot of free time, with his schedule mostly filled with sports and school. The hardest part of online school for Ellison is trying to motivate himself and avoid procrastinating.  Ellison has been playing basketball since the third grade at his previous school, S...