Year after year, high school freshmen are treated as the lowest on the school food chain. They are the most beaten up, tormented and tortured grade level, but with older siblings as guidance, it’s not all that bad.

Annie Zintak is a Grady freshman who has four older sisters, three of whom are Grady graduates. Because of their transitions before her, she feels like the move from middle school was a lot easier compared to some of her peers.

“A lot of teachers knew me already,” Zintak said,  “so that kind of gave me a one-up. I also knew the school better than most people.”

Elizabeth Lansing, a freshman with two older siblings who attended Grady (a 2013 graduate and an 11th grader), agrees.

“I knew most of the teachers coming in, as well as a couple of upperclassmen too,” Lansing said.

With previous knowledge of the teachers, school layout and class work, having an older sibling does have some major advantages. Still, many freshmen without older Grady siblings to guide them said that they were enjoying figuring freshmen year out for themselves.

“You learn quickly, and I just ask around when I can’t figure it out,” said freshmen Jack Hudson.

Whether or not they had older Grady siblings, all freshmen interviewed in this story said that Grady was a vast improvement from middle school.

“High school has a lot more freedom,” Zintak said. “I love having my phone out at lunch.”

Hudson also enjoys the autonomy of high school.

“I like being able to go to class without getting questioned by every teacher,” Hudson said.

More freedom is not the only thing that is new to the freshmen. Lansing prefers the alternating A/B schedule compared to Inman’s schedule.

“I like it a lot better,” she said. “It gives you a day in between classes to do homework.”

As for Grady’s infamous hazing, where seniors “initiate” the freshmen by pulling pranks, most freshmen took the tradition in stride.

“I didn’t really know about it, but I wasn’t worried,” Hudson said. “I mean, they’re not going to kill me.”