Written and photos by Beka Moro|                                        

Freshman Course began eight years ago to help ease the transition for incoming freshmen. This class also allows students to make connections with their guidance counselors. The All About Me project is how guidance gets to know the students. Students also learn about the junior portfolio and its expectations. They do a mock version of the junior portfolio project. The teachers discuss good study skills and guide students through homework. Students have a career project that helps them gain knowledge about a career they might possibly want to pursue.   

When incoming freshmen did not use Chromebooks as often at Eliot, students did not know how to use Google. Freshman Course helped these students learn how to use technology. The recent incoming freshmen know a lot more about technology and how to properly use Google on their Chromebooks.

Freshman course is ¨under construction,¨according to Mrs.Hagness. Since the requirements and expectations for junior portfolio are evolving, the staff can use Freshman Course to explain what the expectations are for the class of 2022. English teacher and program chair Paul Serenbetz said, ¨It’s like broccoli.  You might not like it, but it’s good for you.” Overall the purpose of this class is to introduce the vision of the graduate.

English teacher Amanda Fairbanks, one of the Freshman Course teachers, said that they want to add more topics that reach out to the outer world rather than focusing on technology. Even though Freshman Course is under construction, Ms.Fairbanks claims that this class teaches students skills that they will not only use in high school but college and the workforce they enter.

Many students feel Freshman Course is pointless. Freshman Angelina Comiskey said, “Mrs.Mazzarella is amazing. She tries to make it good, but it’s just the class itself that sucks.” Freshman Adrianna Valsamis told us that in this class students learn how to use Google. She also thinks that ¨it’s a waste of time because everyone has been using Google since Eliot, and we all know how to work it.¨