A Letter to Freshmen

Dear fresh meat, I mean freshman :),

Hi there! My name is Kaeli Smith and I am a sophomore at Portola! A couple things about me before I get started are: I run cross country and track, I am involved in our drama/theater department, I am taking Chinese and I am the president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) club here at Portola. The start of school is right around the corner so whether you want it or not, here is some advice for your freshman year at Portola.

My first word of advice is this year is your fresh start to do new things, hint the word fresh-man. So I encourage you, try something new, whether that is a new sport, language or a new class, get out of your comfort zone and try something you never thought you would because you might end up loving it! Last year, I almost took the basic route for language in high school and almost took Spanish. But, then I thought that it might be a little fun and definitely interesting if I took Chinese because it might help me talk to new people and eventually maybe help me get into college. I can definitely say I am glad I took a risk because once I learned the basics, Chinese was really easy and super fun. You might not take a new language like I did, but maybe there is a sport you’re interested in learning.

I used to see people running when I was in the car with my parents and I would think that runners were crazy and I never ever wanted to run for fun. Fast forward to today and I am on our cross country and track team, and despite a few hard practices, I would not trade my sport for any other. (Our girls team is very limited so if you are a girl and you are interested, respond to the blog or DM Classline that you are interested in joining!) Maybe you are not into sports or learning a completely new language, and maybe you are a theater kid and would love to be in one or both of our schools productions.

I can personally tell you that Drama is the best elective you will ever take, it is so much fun and there is no better way to make friends and new memories for high school. The plays and musicals Portola has put on are so much fun to be a part of and a joy to the people that come to watch and something they will never forget.

I don’t know what your interests are or if some of you even read this far but I encourage you new incoming freshman to try something new and just enjoy high school because it does go by fast and you don’t want to regret anything! I hope I have helped in anyway possible and hopefully I will get to meet some of you once school starts! Good luck and just enjoy it!

Kaeli Smith