The two high schools welcome freshman
Besides getting back in the routine of school, Live Oak High and Sobrato High students are adjusting to totally different student populations.
Sobrato High opened its doors to students for the first time Aug. 24, but only to 9th and 10th grade students. They will always be the oldest on campus, since 11th grade will be added next year and 12th grade the following year.
Live Oak students – at least the juniors and seniors – are adjusting to having 9th graders on campus. And those 9th graders are learning just how different high school is from middle school.
Freshmen are now on Morgan Hill high school campuses for the first time in 25 years.
Cassie Nielsen, 14, said Monday she is glad the 9th graders are back in the high school.
“I feel more mature going to a school with older people,” the freshman said.
“There are more opportunities here than in junior high. But the dress code, that makes me feel more restricted.”
Steven Davis, 14, agreed with fellow classmate Nielsen.
“It makes you feel older just to be around people older than you.”
Asked whether they were intimidated by the juniors or seniors, some 9th graders said they were a little nervous; some even said seniors had threatened to “egg” the freshmen, “all week long.” No actual incidents of egging were reported.
Gary Martin, 14, another Live Oak freshman, said it isn’t a big difference to him from middle school, where they had older students above them as eighth graders.
“Look around,” he said. “It’s the same, everybody’s just gotten older.”
To help them adjust to the new situations, Live Oak ASB Director Norm Dow has begun a mentoring program, where 70 seniors are responsible for five freshmen each.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Samantha Acosta, 14. “It’s great to have someone show you around. And to learn to be a mentor yourself.”
Lexy Nuno, 14, said she, too, liked the idea of mentors.
“It’s an honor to be the first group of 9th graders, but sometimes you feel young and little; the dress code can make you feel like a little kid. But the mentors can be a great source of help for us. Knowing other, older students also makes the transition for some students easier.”
“I know most of the people here,” said Rita Ruiz, 14. “I feel really privileged to be one of the 9th graders here this year.”
Upper classmen at the school had mixed reactions to having the extra class at their school. Some just didn’t notice. The first day of classes and meeting old friends consumed their day. Others thought the freshman were too immature and should go back to junior high.
Some students, however, were eager to share their years of high school experience to them.
Senior Ashley McAleavey, took little notice of the new class.
“I can’t tell a difference,” McAleavey said. “I haven’t encountered one yet.”
Senior Jackie Tennant also hardly knew freshmen were on campus, but was envious of them and their new experience.
“I wish I were a freshman going to high school for the first time,” Tennant said.
In the past, since not all the classes were at Live Oak, students were older than they could have been at the start of high school. Junior Jessica Nowak said the younger students were annoying her.
“It’s horrible,” Nowak said. “There are too many little kids; they’re too immature.”
Junior Bobby Long said freshmen should have stayed at the middle schools.
“I liked it the way it used to be,” Long said.
Not all, however, thought having freshmen was a bad thing.
Seniors Monica Castro, Nicole Levell and Nastassjia Bryant all said there were more people on campus, but they were all excited to see freshmen at the school.
“I feel so much older,” Levell said. “I feel above everybody else.”
While Bryant shared a similar sentiment, showing off her senior shirt which read “Reppen’ Seniors to the Fullest,” she also offered a piece of advice for the freshmen.
“They must be confident in their abilities if they want to succeed,” she quipped.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at
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or by phone at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202. Cheeto Barrera is an intern at the Morgan Hill Times, he can be reached at
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