During middle school, preteens get misconceived expectations about the wonders of high school. The media paints this seemingly perfect or incredibly dramatized picture of the “best four years of your life.”

For many students, this time has flown by, but for freshman Camille Taylor it is just the beginning.

“My first day was better than expected—I wasn’t late to any of my classes,” Taylor said. She was also pleased to see that EHS did not resemble what the media portrays. Instead of the halls being rampant with bullying, she saw that “everyone just keeps to themselves.”

Coming from middle school, Taylor was happy to have the freedom to roam around. Her sister, senior Katie Taylor, and her sister’s friends have helped her along with that. The sisters recently visited Greenville College. “That’s kind of my dream school right now… It’ll probably change,” Camille said.

For many students, it does change. “I had my whole future planned out,” senior Melissa Suermann said. As she reflected upon where she expected to be, she realizes that her life “changed for the better.”

Like many teenagers of the Digital Age, senior Alexis Scott watched Disney’s “High School Musical” as well as other false media representations of high school. Scott thought everyone in the school would “come together” as the characters of “High School Musical” did in the song “We’re All in This Together.”

Her freshmen year she quickly realized what real life would entail. Scott saw that high school is not one big happy family, but the other extreme she expected was that of the movie “Mean Girls.” The dramatic comedy stars Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams as the “Queen Bees” of the school.

 “I thought [high school] would be a lot more dramatic,” senior Kayla Thompson said.

As a freshman, Thompson foresaw herself studying nonstop and going to a “prestigious” university far away with little to no free time. Things change. She has been able to juggle a job, extra-curricular activities and her academics. Thompson is not the seemingly perfect individual she thought her senior self would be, but she is more content.

 “I feel more relaxed,” Thompson said.

Junior Annette Johnson feels just the opposite. “There’s a lot more work to do. [Teachers] expect a lot from us as juniors.” As the year progresses, Johnson is expecting a more challenging workload.

Watching films such as “Breakfast Club,” she concluded that high schoolers were judgmental. “People are a lot more accepting than I thought they would be,” Johnson said. Being the shy freshman she was, Johnson was afraid of what people thought of her.

“You’d hear things about people, and you’d just go with that,” Johnson said. “I had barely any friends freshmen year, and now I know pretty much everybody.”

Some students enter high school with many friends but leave with very few. This works the same vice versa. As shown in many coming-of-age films, adolescence is a time of change and growth. It may or may not be “the best four years of your life,” but according to senior Lauren Mullikin, “You find out who you are in high school.”