Sinatra is Full of Friends


Senior vocalist Alejandra Rodriguez shakes the hand of freshman vocalist Netza Jimenez.

Arguably the hardest part of high school aren’t all the tests, or hard subjects like calculus and biology, or even the strict teachers that make a forty three minute class feel like forty three hours. Freshman year is a rite of passage that every student has to go through and it’s full of stress and unfamiliarity to a new environment. It’s especially scary in

Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (FSSA) where there are so many students all bustling around the halls, running to their classes, and brimming with talent.

Making new friends at a new school can also be hard because FSSA is not a small school and it can be overwhelming for new students. Many students have different views of FSSA when they are new students or about to start. One student, Alice Baum,a senior vocalist, said that it’s good to have friends going into a new schools “I wasn’t close friends with them [friends from middle school], but because of one of them I am friends with my close friends now,” she said.

The upperclassmen do understand the struggles of the freshmen with making new friends because all the upperclassmen had to go through it so it becomes a shared experience. “I know it’s hard for some people to find new friends and start in a new environment, and putting yourself out there,” said Alice.

Upperclassmen also feel like the FSSA community is welcoming to freshmen because of the fact that it’s so diverse and anyone can be a part of FSSA and fit in. Josiah Whittaker, a sophmore instrumentalist, feels that the community is welcoming.

The school community was very welcoming actually, I felt like I really fit in,” he said.

A good way for freshmen to feel more welcomed in the school is to become a part of their studio classes. Because most times students in the studio will be more open minded to new people because all the kids in one studio are all stuck in the same boat in a sense, where they all do the same thing and have similar classes.

Emily Hernandez, a junior instrumentalist who came in not as a freshman, but as a sophomore, felt that the instrumental community was more welcoming than the school community.

“[The] Studio was more welcoming than the entire school because we have a lot of classes together, and it’s like a little family so everyone knows each other,” she said. She adds that having classes with students in your same studio is helpful because then friendships are built and they can be a good foothold into the community.

Alice also had a similar experience getting more familiar with students in her major.

“The studio, you’re with them most of the time and you’re more vulnerable with them. Because as a vocal major you’re just putting yourself out there,” she said.

Starting high school is described by some as exciting and nervous, and most of it is nervousness and letting nervousness dictate your every move. This is especially common in an arts school filled with talented people. No matter if you stand out with colored hair or fit in with every other student, there’s always a place for everyone in FSSA.

Some advice the upperclassmen had for a nervous student about starting a new year is just be yourself. It may take a little time and searching, but if you let people appreciate you for you, your true friends will come out.

– by Matthew Reisacher ’19