As summer break comes to a close, incoming Palo Alto High School 9th graders are voicing excitement and anticipation for their first day of school tomorrow. Organized by Paly’s Link Crew, an orientation today allowed new students to tour the campus and socialize with their peers over pizza and snacks. The Paly Voice interviewed several students about their opinions on orientation and their expectations of high school.

“I feel like it’s going to be pretty easy to adjust to [high school], but right now, it’s a little intimidating, since the first day of school is coming up. I still don’t really know where all my classes are, so I’m kind of scared about that. But I think the campus so far looks really cool.”

– freshman Lily Liu

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“It [Paly] really surprises me because I didn’t imagine there would be swimming or so many sports compared to my old school. I also find it very welcoming, especially today with the opening ceremony and tour. It might be confusing in terms of finding where all the classes are but I think I’m going to get used to it.”

– freshman Angel Zhang

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“Some of the facilities and [class] subjects are pretty cool, so I’m excited. I’m interested to know what the teachers are like. I’m also interested in [joining] Paly Choirs.”

– freshman Ishaan Juyal

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“I think this [orientation] went really well. As a part of Link Crew, I was a little flustered about how I was going to do it [lead the campus tour], but then as time went on, I got more into the groove of things and the freshmen seemed to really be enjoying what was happening and getting really into it. I think we have a lot of great prospects for our school and it’s really cool to see all these new faces. I recognize people, too, from my elementary school and middle school.”

– sophomore Simone Batra