Life as a freshman can be weird. It is a whole new environment filled with people who are three times your height. You have to learn where all the new classrooms are located and figure out where you are going to eat lunch. Along with all this also comes a different type of workload. Well, this year is full of many new factors for Lilyan Anderson. Lily is a freshman this year at Heritage High School and has found that high school and life have been thrown a curveball. While this year may look different, Lily still has plans to make it the best she can. She has many different areas of her life that she is focused on, but she also has an interesting personal life when she isn’t working on school work.

A little known fact about Lily is that she isn’t from Georgia. She was born and raised in Michigan till the age of four. At that time, she and her family decided to move to Georgia. Now that they have been living here for a few years, it has become their home. Lily has a few siblings but spends a lot of her time with her younger brother named Ethan. They share many common interests and enjoy reading together.

“We often butt heads but we like to watch T.V. together on Sundays,” Lily states. “It is kind of our thing to do together.”

Along with spending time with Ethan, she also enjoys spending time with her friends. The location doesn’t matter as long as she gets to hang out with them. She does say, however, that her favorite places are the drive-in and the mall. Apparently she has also gotten the opportunity now to ride to school with one of her best friends named Sheridan. Lily tells me that Sheridan means a lot to her and that she has always been there through everything. To Lily, the time she gets to spend with her friends is one of the best parts about school.

On the topic of school, it has been an interesting first couple weeks, according to Lily. She has found it to be a little different than what she expected but still enjoys it. She came into Heritage almost with the expectation of a school shown on a television show or movie.

“I thought it would be like ‘Saved by the Bell,’” Lily explains. “To me, it seems like the teachers held your hand a lot in middle school, but you have more freedom here”.

Lily has found that the new schedule has both pros and cons. She enjoys getting to ride to school with her friend and getting to sleep in on the digital days. One thing that surprised her was the decrease in drama. She thinks that people being away from one another makes them happier when they do see each other. On the other hand, the class work is a bit more difficult to do online. She thinks it is easier to remember how to do things when actually taught in person. She also shared that she has numerous friends she doesn’t get to see anymore. 

There are two major things that Lily finds to be helpful when things get stressful like school has in the past couple months. One of these things is going to wrestle. She finds that it is a good release, and she is driven to work as hard as she can.

“When I’m having a bad day I can go to practice and blow off some steam. Coach Moore works us hard, but it helps relieve stress,” Lily said. 

One of her other new interests is in musical theater. She really enjoys listening to all different kinds of genres but has recently fallen in love with “Hamilton.” She feels that it has so much diversity in the music and also just has a great feeling to give. It has even inspired her to consider becoming a choreographer or writing a musical.

As anyone can see, Lily leads a diverse life. From the wrestling mats to new COVID protocols, Lily is figuring out how to move forward in this crazy world. She finds joy in the small things she gets to do and tries to work hard in the things that prove to be difficult. That is a quality many people should strive to have more of each and every day.