By Kamryn Peace
Tests, quizzes, projects and homework. It may feel like you’re trapped in a never ending cycle, especially for incoming freshmen. Entering high school can be tough, particularly if you haven’t learned any studying or organization strategies. That’s why administrators at Woodward Academy decided to add a new class to the curriculum this year: Freshman Foundations.
The objective of the class is to help freshmen students achieve academic success by teaching them how to set academic goals and develop action plans to achieve those goals, but does it really hit its target? And how do the individuals of WA feel about it?
Carrington Stallworth ‘25, who during her freshman year, took part in BSU and was a member of the Lady War Eagles JV volleyball team, thinks that FF would’ve been a good class for her when she was a freshman here at WA.
“Freshman year is very easy to blow off because it’s your first year in high school and it’s a lot of fun,” Carrington said. “It’s really easy to blow off a big proportion of it and not focus on time management or homework or anything like that.”
As if freshman year isn’t already demanding enough, imagine entering high school during a global pandemic. This scenario was all too real for Kymali Pierre ‘24, who was an incoming freshman during the 2020-2021 Covid outbreak and lockdown. When asked if she wished that she had a class like Freshman Foundations when she was a freshman, she responded affirmatively.
“Especially with Covid it wasn’t a normal school year so I didn’t really know what to expect,” Kymali said. “So I think this would have helped me get more organized […] and be more relaxed going into high school.”
Like Carrington and Kymali, Jaia Williams ‘26, who was a part of the Sports Medicine Club, WA Serves, BSU and a member of the swim team during her freshman year, wasn’t offered a class like FF when she was a freshman, but opposite to Carrington and Kymali, she thinks that she could’ve done without it.
“I’ve taken organization classes before and I feel like they’re good short term, but long term they didn’t really help me out,” Jaia said.
Since freshmen aren’t offered a study hall, many students find completing homework at home difficult, especially with extracurricular activities after school. JP Oliver ‘27, who was a part of WA’s production of She Kills Monsters knows this all too well. He points out that while FF is mainly intended to teach students studying habits and to build student confidence, it also gives them a chance to plan and get homework done at school.
“It gives me a set timeframe to get stuff done,” JP said. “And I have to use my journal a lot, my calendar … and I have to check it daily.”
When asked what she wants students to take away from Freshman Foundations, FF teacher Dr. Kimberly Edwards said that she wants students to know that Freshman Foundations–along with teaching students study habits, building student confidence and giving them a time to plan for the day and get other homework assignments done–also takes into consideration the known fact that every student operates and learns differently. Knowing this information, students can make changes to their studying habits or set up meetings with teachers to discuss the adjustments needed in order for that student to achieve maximum success in that particular classroom.
“Everybody learns differently,” Dr. Edwards said. “And this year I have so many students in math that are not necessarily doing well … My whole classroom is full of windows and I’ve allowed them now to use it as dry erase boards. It all erases. So get up, use it, help each other, teach each other, whether you’re in honors [or] somebody else may be in EP and CP, you can still learn from each other and help each other grow!”
