After all underclassmen left the Welcome Back Assembly, Principal Ron Okamura had a discussion with this year’s seniors. He began with, “This was the first senior class that I didn’t have to yell at for misbehavior.”

This struck a lot of seniors The Pinion talked to by surprise and a feeling of pride came over a few of them.

Okamura then encouraged the seniors to be role models to the underclassmen; by setting an example for them to follow.

The Pinion asked multiple seniors what they would like to say to encourage their Freshmen and underclass students.

• “Don’t act stupid! Tell you right now, if you thought the way you acted in middle school was fun, come to high school, no!”
• “Come to all our events, like if we see you around, at games, participating, we’ll know who you are and talk to you. But if you like blend into the crowd, you can’t expect to get picked out in anything.”
• “Yeah, definitely try and be out there, like I know it’s scary because it’s your first year of high school. But there are so many clubs and sports, there’s always something that matches everyone’s interest. Besides we love freshmen! We’re not all like, oh you little underclassmen, no we love freshmen, we want them to get more involved and we really want to get to know more of them.”
• “Live up and live it out!”
•  “Work hard, you can do this, you will one day be in our spot. I know it, you know it, just work hard and keep going and you’ll get there.”
• “Do the best you can, don’t put anything off, you’re gonna need to work really hard. It’s not gonna be easy, I know and you’ll hear that a lot, but seriously, study really hard you will be in our place.”
• “Freshmen should really think through their actions and not act immature. I mean, I know all of us have our immature side, but don’t show it in front of school, or in public, in front of everyone else; don’t make them think down on you. Save your crazy side for home, or private places.”