Baskerville Hall is more packed than ever this school year. The reason why: the 160 students of the Class of 2029! At the start of the school year, HSMSE opened its doors to our new freshmen. But what do they think about our school so far? How are they adjusting?

To investigate these questions, The Echo interviewed several freshmen about how they’re adjusting to our wonderful school community.

The following responses have been edited for length and clarity.

How is freshman year going so far?

• Avery Flowers (’29): The school year has been going good so far! My middle school didn’t assign much homework, so doing homework and actually working for tests is a bit of a shift, but it’s actually not as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
• Fiona Shi (’29): So far, I’m getting used to the building, finding the classrooms, and adjusting the school’s workload.
• Mark Aduculesi (’29): I think it’s going pretty good. I’m very happy to be at this school.

What is your commute to the school like so far?

• Athena Tsatsas (’29): It takes like 40 minutes, but it’s not bad.
• Avery Flowers (’29): I was fortunately blessed with a nice commute of around 20 minutes. I live in Manhattan on the Upper West Side and take the uptown 1 train to 137th Street.
• Jiyoung Lee (’29): My commute is around 15 minutes on the 1 train, since I live nearby in Manhattan.

• Mark Aduculesi (’29): It’s not too bad; The buses are what takes a long time but the subways are pretty good.

• Wren Hunnicutt (’29): Well, I have a long commute. I live in Midtown East, Manhattan, and take the M57 to the 1 train or N/R to the 1 or even just the M101 as well. I can do my homework on it and manage it.

Why this school? What sets it apart from other high schools (including other specialized high schools)?

• Avery Flowers (’29): When I went to other schools’ open houses, a lot of them were very big and overwhelming, and I thought that that would be difficult to handle as a student, and because HSMSE is a smaller, tight-knit community, it would be easier to switch from middle school.
• Fiona Shi (’29): What I liked about this school was its architecture.
• Mark Aduculesi (’29): I actually didn’t know about this school until a friend told me about it, and then I went to the open house and really liked it. I liked its size as opposed to Bronx Science, so I tried to get in and got in.

Wren Hunnicutt (’29): I wanted to go to a specialized high school and this was the only one that appealed to me, especially because it was in Manhattan, and I also didn’t really like Bronx Science and Stuyvesant that much.

What is your favorite class so far?

• Athena Tsatsas (’29): Maybe Drafting ’cause my teacher is really nice and it’s fun, hands-on stuff.

• Mark Aduculesi (’29): Favorite class is probably Geometry ’cause we’re learning new stuff and I like the challenge in it.
• Wren Hunnicutt (’29): Probably Biology just ’cause it’s chill.

How is the workload for all your classes in general?

• Avery Flowers (’29): In general, the workload is not too bad, an hour a day, but I usually split it across the days so I can lessen it.
• Jiyoung Lee (’29): My workload is pretty good, I just need time management, but it’s not unmanageable.
• Mark Adules (’29): I think it’s pretty manageable—I mean, I had to adjust to it at the beginning of the year, but now the more I do it, the easier it gets.
• Wren Hunnicutt (’29): I don’t really have that much homework compared to my friends at other specialized high schools.

What do you hope to accomplish at HSMSE?

• Avery Flowers (’29): I’ve always wanted to get into STEM; I hope to get opportunities in STEM during my time at HSMSE and learn about stuff I previously didn’t know about.
• Jiyoung Lee (’29): I hope to get into a good college and achieve good grades.
• Mark Aduculesi (’29): I hope to further my understanding of math and science because that will aid me in my academic journey … I want to be an astrophysicist, so that will take a lot of math.

If you could describe this high school in three words, what would they be?

• Avery Flowers (’29): Tight-knit community.
• Fiona Shi (’29): Cool, pretty, small.
• Jiyoung Lee (’29): Continuously good academics.
• Mark Aduculesi (’29): Math, science, and engineering.

Do you have any final words of advice for your fellow classmates?

• Fiona Shi (’29): Don’t procrastinate and keep up with the workload.
• Mark Aduculesi (’29): Just keep doing what you’re doing and have fun.

It’s amazing to see the perspectives of people who are now in the footsteps we were once in. Plus, it introduces us to the next generation of doctors, biologists, engineers, and more!

Just from looking at these interviews, it looks like the freshmen are getting used to the small size of HSMSE and its community. It’s not easy to walk into a brand new school with tons of new people, but it’s refreshing to see just how a month can get you acclimated to a school!

We wish you luck for surviving freshman year, Class of 2029! We hope you enjoy the next four years of HSMSE filled with delightful C-Days, intense AP classes, and many new, wonderful opportunities.

Thank you to all of the freshmen who participated in this interview!