Lafayette is the biggest school in Kentucky based on the student body and is very overpopulated. High school is a big change for freshmen, and their environment can change drastically. For example, Lafayette is huge compared to middle schools in the area, and incoming students can be overwhelmed.

Some people coming into high school are nervous, but some aren’t as nervous for the same reasons. Some examples are four classes a day, a bigger school which means more people, the amount of time to eat lunch, traffic, and bathroom issues. Let’s hear from the students and what their thoughts are.

Lafayette is already a huge school as it is. Some people from middle school are scared of how high school life will be. Since Lafayette is the biggest school in Kentucky, students can be intimidated. There’s no easy way of realizing how busy and crowded our school can be. But the bright side is that there are more opportunities to meet more people, more students, more staff, and more class options for students.

When coming into something different or scary, you must consider the positives of that new environment. Having more students in a school brings in more staff, which is good for students because they have more people. Having more staff also leads to more classes and more opportunities for students. Also, having more people in school is a good thing due to having more opportunities to meet new people and make new friends. So when coming into your first year of high school or in any new environment, keep your head up and look on the bright side of the new environment you’re entering.

One thing that can be improved at Lafayette is the lunch times. Lunch is only twenty-five minutes every day. Since the cafeteria is on the first floor, you could waste some time going to the cafeteria if you come from the second or third floor.

Writing from personal experience, if you have fifth lunch, you leave and walk with your class to get lunch. Then when you finally arrive, you have to go through the lunch lines, which takes about ten minutes because of how many people there are.

Jaiden McMillian, a 9th grader, said, “I do think it needs to be a little longer because the lines are always really long” and “I take my lunch, but from what I see, it takes a long time to get through the lines.” By the time you go through the line, you only have ten minutes to eat all of your lunch, clean up, and leave the cafeteria. Julia Finley, a 9th grader, said, “We need free time.”

Evi Maxon, a 9th grader, stated, “I literally never finish eating because you only get twenty minutes, and that’s when you’re switching classes, and you have to go through the lines, which are really long.”

Another concept that can be different for students is the four classes a day instead of seven. Freshmen are used to seven classes a day, but having four classes daily must be a big change for students.

It can also be overwhelming and confusing between A and B days. It is easy to get confused about what classes you have and where they are, so a good thing to help is putting your schedule on your lock screen so you can easily glance at your phone and check.

Something you can do to help get organized is to get two different backpacks for each day. Evi Maxon said that having two backpacks benefited her. She said, “If I had one backpack, it would weigh like 100 pounds.” Having two backpacks can help you stay organized and divide the weight.

In high school, the class change is seven minutes. At Jessie Clark Middle School, they only had four minutes. In middle school, four minutes is enough time because the school is smaller, but in high school, you are barely able to get to class on time for some students.

You only have six bathroom passes in each class for the whole year. Teachers expect you to go in between classes. How can students do that if they are already struggling with getting to class on time? Teachers expect the students to go to the bathroom before class, and since there are a lot of students in the school, the bathrooms are crowded. So unless you are the first few in there, you will be waiting.

Another difference is the driving traffic and what to do if you are tardy. Since so many upperclassmen can drive and there is not enough parking spaces for everybody to park in the school, many students need to find parking off campus in the neighborhood streets.

The neighborhoods surrounding Lafayette are always full of cars. Since there are still a large number of people who do not have cars, their guardians or parents drop them off. That means that every morning and afternoon at school, there is a halt in traffic.

Lafayette is very overpopulated and can be a big change for incoming students. There are many positives and negatives to high school. Some negatives are more people, the amount of time to eat lunch, traffic, and bathroom issues. Some positives are that there are A and B days and easy ways to get organized.