When you’re first entering your senior year, you begin to panic, and you realize that it’s your last year in high school. Since it’s your last year, you can’t help but reflect, not on the things you did, but on the things you didn’t do. That’s when all of a sudden the question, “What do you wish you knew before entering Berkeley High School (BHS)?” pops into your mind. Many seniors and alumni have different answers to this question. Combining them can lead to a valuable learning experience for students who aren’t yet seniors or those ready to do the things they wanted to do as high schoolers, but in college.
One of the things many upperclassmen wished they knew before entering Berkeley High School is the fact that fear shouldn’t be controlling their choices. Boris Fedorov is a graduate of BHS, class of 2016, and now attends University of California, Berkeley. He said, “I think a lot of people, myself included, enter high school and are a little bit intimidated by the scale of everything. A lot of people are too scared to do something, whether it be joining a club, trying out for a sport, or asking someone out, all because they are worried that they are going to embarrass themselves in front of the whole school and have to carry that shame for the rest of their lives. What people don’t realize until after they graduate is that … you will never see your classmates again after graduation, so you shouldn’t let the fear of embarrassment control your decisions.” Additionally, many other upperclassmen offered advice about entering high school. Senior Hana Robertson said, “The things that mattered in middle school don’t matter at all in high school. All the cliques that existed simply don’t anymore, it’s all new. There are no more unwritten rules. You really can be anything you want.” In other words, once you enter Berkeley High, all of the friend groups get reset, and you have a new freedom to explore interests.
Upperclassmen also wish they knew about resources provided for them, including their counselors. Ben Suttles, another senior at BHS, explained, “I wish I knew about the resources we were provided, such as our academic counselor, so that way I would’ve known more about graduation requirements than cramming them all in my senior year.” Also, many seniors who transferred from high schools internationally face struggles that they wish they had known how to control beforehand. For example, senior Thomas Laurent said, “One thing I wish Berkeley High explained when I arrived last year was the concepts of AP classes and Honor classes.” Laurent was also confused because the French and American systems are very different.
Speaking about college applications, Fedorov also said, “It’s definitely a good idea to create a good relationship with your teachers because you will need their help in senior year when applying for colleges”. He added, “It’s definitely worth it to try out all the different clubs and classes available to you at BHS. BHS is really fortunate to have a plethora of interesting classes like photography, sociology, and Theory of Knowledge, classes that most high schools don’t have. The same thing applies for clubs, but if there isn’t a club that you’re interested in you can always make your own. Making the robotics team with my friends was probably one of my best decisions ever.”
Many upperclassmen regret not knowing about a club sooner. An example of this is senior Myisha Kemp, who said, “I wish I knew about the cheerleading team because if I’d have known about it sooner, then I would’ve tried out for cheerleading sophomore year instead of now as a senior.” Despite everyone having regrets about not having done one thing or another, there is still some optimism floating around. Senior Yesenia Garcia said, “I wish I would have known that everything works out … You can always reach out to people and meet so many people by being friendly and approachable when you go to school with a good attitude good things come out.”
So if you ever find yourself alone, just remember you can always take the first step, make friends, find your passion, or even create a new club! You never know what’s going to happen at BHS, but be sure that whatever you do, never regret not trying anything new!