The Commons: a place where friends meet, talk, exchange stories, and compare schoolwork. A place where people converse about sports, admire outfits, and bemoan gas prices. A place constantly buzzing with chatter and laughter. It is the ultimate socializing hot spot --cleaner than bathrooms and more spacious than hallways.

That's how I see it this year, anyway.

Last year about this time, though, the Commons evoked one emotion and one emotion only: fear.

Last year I was a freshman, a newbie, the low man on the totem-pole; and the idea of a social life among nearly 1,200 students was an intimidating one. Especially coming from a small middle school, as I did, where I knew everyone's name, and they all knew mine.

So walking into the crowded Commons for the first time was at least mildly terrifying. Finding my friends amid the throng was a chore; it took a few days of aimless wandering to finally discover their hiding place. We began meeting at the entrance to the business hall, safely out of site from the swarms of upper-classmen. Eventually we fled the Commons entirely and took shelter in the nice, quiet library.

I was lucky to share most of my classes with people I'd known since elementary school, but I did eventually make other friends. They were mostly others like me -- quiet, somewhat shy freshmen. I enjoyed their company, and I like to think the feeling was mutual.



Besides the invaluable friendships previously mentioned, the friendships offered to me by upperclassmen were especially meaningful. Sophomores, juniors, even a senior or two, who spoke to me on a regular basis made feel accepted, even special.

I'm not writing this to complain or moan about how awful freshman year was --because it wasn't. However, when I see a freshman shuffling down the halls or creeping through the Commons, it takes no stretch of the imagination to remember what it felt like and understand how they feel. Adjusting to a new school with new people and a new social status was tough -- and I'm sure not just for me.

No, I'm writing this to send a message to the other sophomores who remember the trials of freshie-hood, to juniors, for whom it may be a fading memory, and yes, even to seniors, the top of the totem-pole, the elite among high school social classes, who have forgotten all too willingly what freshman year was like. Never underestimate the value of something even as simple as a friendly smile. A conversation or joke may brighten a freshman’s day more than you may think. Moreover, the benefits of a friendship are immeasurable.

Adopt a freshman...today!