It’s a place to express your creativity, to socialize with friends, and most importantly to learn. School provides all these things in an efficient way while still letting the children maintain their identities. It is amazing how much we learn in such a short amount of time, and we have so much freedom while doing it. Tests are only given when necessary, and the homework load could be so much more. School is also a great environment to be in. We can roam the halls, and unlike other schools, we don’t have to wear uniforms. The administration also keeps the students’ interests and safety in mind, at all times. Fremd is such a fantastic place to be in.

It is absolutely terrific how in school you learn to prioritize your time. When the average student comes home from school, they might want to relax a little bit, but that’s not a priority. Besides high school gets you ready for college and the life you will one day be living, and there is no time to relax in the real world. Luckily the teachers make sure we have enough to keep us occupied so we learn about time management and priorities. Forget about friends, you don’t have time for them. Homework and tests are always the number one thing and should be addressed as soon as you come home. Dinner and showering can be taken care of when you have time, but they’re not that important. If you choose to ignore this suggestion, then you can be up at all hours of the night completing all this homework that teachers gave us. Of course they only have our best interest in mind. If you are staying up very late, then you obviously are not prioritizing your time, and need to learn your lesson. You could have so much more homework, so you should be thankful that your teachers are so nice only to give you three hours of homework per subject.

If you don’t have enough homework to do, you can study for those tests that help our learning. It is amazing how teachers coordinate their tests with each other, so that we have all of them on the same day. Again, only to teach us how to prioritize time of course. Your teenager years should be spent learning such lessons so that you will succeed in the rest of your life. Life has stress in everyday situations, and if you have seven tests on one day, then you are just learning how to deal with that stress. You should trust your teachers on this, the sleepless nights and loads of stress will help you in the future and you will be thanking them one day.

To help stimulate such learning the teachers are always available to help you if you need it. In case you’re having trouble with homework or have a question about the test the next day, you can go see them during your free period, or before and after school. Of course, they might not be there because they are the sponsors for some activities or have their own families to look after. No doubt, they are just teaching you another lesson for the future. When you join a job and have a question, your boss might not always be there to answer your questions, so you will have to figure it out for yourself. Of course, you can always shoot them an email around five o’clock, and they think your email is worthy enough, they might get back to you! But beware, teachers have already learned their lessons about stress, and don’t have to learn them by doing homework ‘til 2 in the morning, so they sleep very early. Make sure you send your email before 7 o’clock otherwise you might not get a reply back. So next time you see your teachers make sure you thank them for replying back to your email, the one you send a week ago.

The school board and administration do a great job of keeping this learning environment safe so we feel secure. The hall monitors are fabulous and make sure that we don’t make too much noise while traveling in the halls. They give you such a friendly look, and when they yell at you, you know it’s only because they care about you. They’re like your grandparents, they’re everywhere you go, and make sure you stay out of trouble. You know if anyone ran into the school with a gun or bomb, they are there to protect you; no one dare disobey the hall monitors. It’s also very reassuring when you’re in the restroom, and someone comes in to do a bathroom check. It is not awkward at all, and this way all the students know that there is no gun or bomb in the bathroom that will explode.

Of course, if there is a bomb, we all have our lanyards on so the administrators can pinpoint exactly who had gone in the bathroom at 9:58 a.m. to put the bomb in the bathroom. This way, after the bomb explodes and hundreds of people die, we will know exactly who to arrest. In case you don’t have your lanyard own (god forbid), the hall monitors tell you politely to “Go down to the office to get a temporary.” No one is scared of the hall monitors because everyone knows they are just doing their job and making sure the school is safe from intruders. It is comforting to know that everyone who is in the Fremd building truly does go to our school, and doe not sneak in to this fine learning environment. It is perfectly normal for a stranger to come into our school to buy lunch. That is why we need an I.D. while buying lunch. It’s so much more convenient to get it from school. So for all those who think that the administration is being unreasonable by making the students wear these lanyards, here is what I think: They are just trying to look out for our safety by making sure there isn’t a 16-year old terrorist trying to kill 2,000 people. It is beneficial for our learning.

Along the same lines, it is totally reasonable for the Fremd to ban the Halloween costumes. They are distracting, and take away a whole day of learning. On the other hand, Homecoming week promotes school spirit. I mean, a person in a banana costume definitely shows off our school colors. There is nothing wrong with that; a banana isn’t a costume when worn for the right reasons. However, when some one wears a suit to school because they are a stockbroker, than the administration has the rights to get involved because that is distracting to the learning environment. So don’t blame the administration, they are only helping us learn.

So thank you to all of D211 who have our interests in mind! The students of Fremd appreciate what you do tremendously, and we know we don’t thank you often, but I would like to thank you right now. Thanks for caring about our futures, and caring about safety. It means a lot to us.