Starting secondary school is a big event in any teenager's eyes. Year 9 student Sasha Clapham, who joins Upper Hutt College from Fergusson Intermediate, shares what starting at UHC has been like for her.

I don't know how to start this story. I felt so many different things at the same time, yet I felt like hardly anything happened. I enrolled at Upper Hutt College expecting to pour every last drop of myself into school.  That in mind, I got the uniform, and waited nervously, but also excited for the day to come. I'm sure a lot of you can relate to frantically working out the timetable, and making sure you and your friends were in the same classes. It's a hectic feeling when you don't know what's going to happen to you, and you feel lost not understanding it.

First of all, one thing I absolutely must say is, Year 12s and 13s are kind of scary. You guys highly underestimate how grown up and powerful you all seem. Don't take that the wrong way! On the first day I was shocked because it seemed like I was going to school with full grown adults. Coffee drinking, car driving, job working adults. Ones that are starting to live their life. My sister's babysitters go to this school, and it's really weird being in the same learning environment, and taking the same buses as grown teenagers. But I guess after a while I did get used to it, and it turns out, everyone just goes off in their own groups and most of the time leave each other alone, no harm done.

First day, I put on my uniform, and it was all new and didn't sit on me that well because I hadn't worn it out yet. Since the orientation started at 10am, my mum drove me. I met up with my friends outside the hall, all looking at each other's uniforms and talking about everything we were worried about. Then, we were all led into the hall and greeted by a haka. I felt a little sorry for the people doing it, because everyone took about 10 minutes to get into the hall, and they were stuck, performing the haka again and again and I could tell their lungs were starting to hurt. It was awesome how they kept it up and didn't stop until every last person came inside. Now that's dedication.

Mr Gurney is my Ako teacher. I was really expecting some teacher who was strict, and ‘mean’ but, to my surprise I was met with a teacher who's so far one of the best teachers I've ever been taught by. I thought I got lucky. But no. The surprises kept coming. Every single, last staff member and teacher I've met is absolutely amazing. I can feel you rolling your eyes at that statement, but for me it's so far, so good.

My Ako teacher also gave us all our own little tour around the school. I felt like a little tourist in a new country, I could feel all the older kids' eyes watching us, as we walked around cluelessly. I was absolutely amazed and also terrified because I had an incredibly strong feeling I was going to forget where one of my classes was. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

Our class spent a while just getting to know each other, and I admit there are still a few names I haven't gotten the gist of. Mr Gurney gave us all a nice layout of what was going to happen - he explained it very well and after that I felt much more confident of what was going to happen.

Last but not least, the cliché list that almost everyone writing this type of stuff does, my top 3 favorite things.

Seriously though, I couldn't believe my ears.

1. The fact you can sometimes come to school at 10am.

What!? All those end of week mornings I get to sleep in, and that is a true gift.

2. The canteen. Shoutout to the person who runs it!

This is such an upgrade from just cup noodles. Curry? Dumplings? Pasta? Ice Cream? I couldn't believe the amount of choice we got. I am way too excited to try it all.

3. The freedom. The most I've ever felt in a school. It sounds ironic because school is usually somewhere you are kept in, and are confined by a set of rules. But honestly, I can't believe how much choice, trust and freedom we are given by teachers.

We also get Ako time, which usually is just a time you can sit with your friends, think about what came first, the colour orange or the fruit, I don't know what you people do in Ako time. But it's really nice to have a mini-break that lets you get ready for the day ahead.

It's been going great here so far, I've settled in nicely and hope all the other Year 9’s out there have too. I also hope the rest of the year will be as good as it is now, and be filled with much more pleasant surprises and experiences.

Good Luck for the rest of 2021.

And thanks for reading.

Saha Clapham

9AG