The Day in the Life of Freshmen: Amanda Lee-Cruz and Lauren France

ZiQing Kuang, Staff Writer|November 30, 2020

For most freshmen, this year has been incredibly stressful and crazy. Yet, a handful of them were able to handle their classes and homework with grace and organization, including my two close freshman friends: Amanda Lee-Cruz and Lauren France. They were able to lead me through what their day-to-day schedule is like at school. They’ve been taking some advanced courses that take a lot of hard work, but both girls have been excelling.

7:00-7:35am

First off in the mornings, Lauren usually comes from her sister Julie’s car. She then goes to meet up with a group of JV-B volleyball players and goes through her Snapchat to catch up with some people. Lauren was on the volleyball team this year, and she is a fantastic player! After that, she heads to Mrs. Michaelson’s class and says goodbye to Julie at the door. For her even days, she has these three classes: Michaelson (Spanish 2), Giberson (Student Government), and Craft (Geometry).

Before school, Amanda hangs out with her friends before heading to Mr. Johnson’s classroom. According to Amanda, he is always “playing his loud Beatles music”. Then, she waits and goes on her phone until the second bell rings.

7:35-9:30am

In Michaelson’s class, Lauren and her peers usually fill in a flipbook with different grammar concepts. Then, they check their examples and do a quiz review. After that, they get to analyze different readings in the provided notebook packets.

In Johnson’s class, the students do a lot of discussions and share their own unique thoughts, which is Amanda’s favorite part. During conference period, she works on any homework that she needs to do and listens to music at the same time.

9:30am-12:30pm

In Giberson’s class, Lauren’s class usually gets in small groups to discuss posters and new ideas regarding COVID. She remarked: “We usually test Mrs. Giberson’s limits in the classroom, but what do you expect from a class full of extroverts planning student events?” During B lunch, Lauren usually sticks with the upperclassmen and the student government members. She eats with Julie and her friends, which is honestly so sweet. On odd days for A lunch, she enjoys making new friends while Snapchatting people on the side. Lauren really enjoys talking to people and making new friends during lunch times. Even though social distancing and wearing a mask all the time is limiting to some people’s social lives, Lauren has found other ways to connect with her classmates, including asking for social media handles and phone numbers from her newer friends.

In her third period class, journalism, Amanda and her fellow classmates do a lot of planning and organizing yearbook layouts. It is a lot of collaboration and effort, but she has been doing a phenomenal job. She really likes that class because it’s a very “chill” class, and she enjoys being able to contribute to the school yearbook. Amanda always looks forward to lunch and said this about lunch break: “I am a freshman, so I didn’t expect to have C lunch this year. I didn’t know where or with whom I would sit with, but I eventually figured it out and found a good group of friends to be around. I love to talk with them about the most random things, and I always look forward to it. It’s a much-needed brain break from all the previous instruction.”

12:30pm-2:30pm

For her last class, Lauren takes geometry with Mrs. Craft. They go over class notes and homework. Lauren’s favorite part of the class is making TikTok jokes with all her classmates. She also commented that Mrs. Craft is “one of the most kind, thoughtful and warm hearted teachers” she’s ever had.

Then, Amanda heads to her fifth period biology class with Mrs. Sims. Before the class starts, she talks to her friends while waiting for Mrs. Sims to prepare. Amanda thinks “the class is really interesting”, and she is always learning something new. She also commented that Mrs. Sims is a great teacher because she is constantly keeping the class engaged.