Year after year freshmen enter high school with hopes of succeeding and thriving. Freshman year can be a huge change for some students, with block scheduling and having to handle more responsibilities. While some students thrive from all this change, other students may struggle their freshman year. Last year, the Freshman Academy was introduced at FHS to help ninth grade students get a better handle on high school and to begin preparing them for the world outside of high school. This year the Freshman Academy is still being utilized while a new idea has been introduced.

On three separate occasions Dec. 10, March 20 and April 17, Attendance Secretary Mrs. Anna Maria Folmar, along with administration and the Freshman Academy team, put together a Freshman forum to further help prepare freshman for the business and professional world. Prominent community members and FHS upperclassmen helped teach the freshman class important lessons on time management, the importance of education, presentations skills and other essential lessons which freshmen men and women may need in their later lives.

“From the fashion show, I learned how to dress properly for a job interview or other important events that may come up,” Freshman Brittney Glover said.

All year long, the freshman explored different career paths and job opportunities. These students then had the opportunity to present these jobs and how they plan on achieving particular career goals at the final freshman forum on April 17.

“Presenting in the freshman forum gave me more confidence for later in life when I have to go to job interviews and do presentations,” Freshman Justin Eaton said.

The highlight of the final forum was a fashion show hosted by Kohls, where members of the senior class displayed outfits that would be appropriate and not appropriate in a professional setting.

“Hopefully the freshmen were able to pick up the missing pieces they needed in order to nail their future interviews. It’s important to know how to accessorize and make everything flow in a sophisticated way,” Senior Morgan Greco said.

The forums have been so successful at FHS this year that other schools across the county are planning on implementing freshman forums next year as well.