High Life : A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Freshmen? Get Lost

They are everywhere, unavoidable and usually easy to pick out of a crowd, especially at the beginning of the school year. They are, of course, freshmen.

Whether it’s their immaturity, size or tendency to get lost, the newcomers cannot easily hide.

Hot Topics asks, “What’s the easiest way to spot a freshman?”

“Freshman are usually smaller, and they are usually lost and walking the wrong way, and they ask a lot of questions.”

Doug Gallant, 16, senior, Santiago

“They usually travel in groups and kind of don’t know where they are going.”

Angie Conley, 16, senior, El Dorado

“They are short--they are all like 4-feet high. And they all group together, and they are all lost.”

Cindy Park, 17, senior, Sunny Hills

“The lost, disoriented look on their faces.”

Ryan Joly, 18, senior, Villa Park

“They can’t reach the top lockers. They have a map out, and they look really lost.”

Caroline Lewczyk, 16, senior, Troy

“They’re usually the shortest. They wear the trendiest clothes.”

Jeremy Factor, 17, senior, Marina

“The terrified look in their eyes. They don’t really know what they are doing or where they are going, and they are scared to make eye contact. That kind of stuff.”

Ann Winterman, 17, senior, Estancia

“They are short, and they look young. They just look younger than everyone else.”

Sharon Bernstein, 17, senior, Troy

“The easiest way to tell a freshman is their insecurity and by their not knowing where to go, what to do or what to say.”

Neha Gupta, 16, senior, Sunny Hills

“They have a schedule stuck in front of their faces, and they have this really lost look.”

Kimi Pasi, 17, senior, Canyon

“When they have got a map of the school in their hand.”

Randee Drucker, 17, senior, Fountain Valley

“They walk really slowly because they don’t really know where they are going. They may even pull out their schedule to find their class, or they have a really tacky school folder with a school map and a list of the rules and regulations and ASB stuff on the back.”

Danny Ronen, 17, senior, El Dorado

“The easiest way to spot a freshman is that they are all pre-pubescent, and they have new clothes. They are all going to have striped shirts with hoods from Wet Seal.”

Kristen Lewis, 17, senior, Sunny Hills

“The way they look at everything because they are always looking around.”

Bill Mee, 16, junior, Esperanza

“They are the ones with the newest, squeaky clean clothes and every hair on their head is in place.”

Jenny Mears, 17, junior, Sunny Hills

“If it is a girl, she is all dressed up and excited to be at school. But if it is a guy, he is too cool to talk to you, or he pretends to be.”

Melissa Altman, 17, senior, Capistrano Valley

“They wear their hair a mile high. They spend hours and hours on their hair, at least at our school. Because we all wear the same uniform, they’re really easy to spot. But the ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ bag is a must, or they might pull out the ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ daily planner.”

Caroline Lynch, 16, senior, Mater Dei

“They have a fake look of confidence, and if it’s the first day, they usually have a ‘SCRUB’ stamp on them.”

Becky Doubledee, 16, junior, Sunny Hills

Next Week’s Hot Topic:

If you could have one wish for the upcoming school year that was guaranteed to come true, what would it be?