&uot;I’m confused already,&uot; a 14-year-old commented to a flock of teenage girls in shirts and faded jeans walking through Albert Lea High School. &uot;You’re telling me,&uot; another replied

They weren’t alone in their confusion Thursday. It was orientation day, and members of the ninth-grade class spent 15 minutes in each period, learning about the building where they will dwell for much of the next few years. They began wandering the building at 9 a.m., meeting teachers, learning that &uot;C lunch&uot; means waiting until 1 p.m. to eat, discovering that the main staircase is a traffic jam between periods and finding out whether their friends will be in their classes.

Teachers also took the chance to offer advice to the fresh ninth-graders.

&uot;You’re going to learn more from the experience of high school than its classes,&uot; social studies teacher Neil Chalmers told one group.

Later in the hallway, he explained his belief that life is about experiences. &uot;You can’t experience the Industrial Revolution, but you can experience life at Albert Lea High School,&uot; he said, moments later pointing a kid toward E109. He said high school was a stepping stone to other things.

High school can be an important time for a teen. Concerns of students related more to the social and logistical aspects than the educational ones, as they prepared themselves for a time in their lives when many will become adults.

Clay Casanova, 14, said he worried about getting beaten up by seniors, looking foolish by getting lost in the huge school and making varsity sports. But he also wondered what new friends he would make in his classes, and which friends he would see less of.

Other students looked forward to a more accepting atmosphere than middle school, where bullies and conformity hold more sway.

&uot;When you come to high school, people don’t judge you as much by how you look,&uot; said Jag Cast, 14, dressed in black combat boots, red-and-black striped socks and a dog chain.

Her friend Melissa Minehart, laughed. &uot;We’re just freaks,&uot; she said. They said they looked forward to not being threatened physically because of their appearance, as they said they often were in middle school.

But other problems are simpler. It took Nick Nelson five minutes to get his locker open. And while the larger school was a little scary, he looked forward to fewer classes.

&uot;It’s seems like going to be easier, except for the locker,&uot; he said.

(Contact Tim Sturrock at tim.sturrock@albertleatribune.com or 379-3438.)