Chad Lundquist/Nevada Appeal Students at Carson High School, gather in the commons area for their first lunch break of the year on Wednesday.
Friends Jessica Merritt and Gina Dimarco hedged their bets.
On Wednesday morning, the freshmen made sure they entered the renowned halls of Carson High School together - along with some 750 other students also on their first day as high-school students.
"I was nervous," Jessica said.
And that was just the beginning.
The class of 2009 duo discovered in the first half of their first day back to school that navigating 2,500-student Carson High School can be an adventure.
"This school is huge," Jessica said.
By lunch, Jessica had gotten lost on her way to two classes - phys ed and science.
She was agreeing with Gina that if Gina was going to fail Spanish, she was too.
She was not quite sure how to make it to her afternoon classes - first she said she didn't know how to find them, then she said she did, then she wasn't sure, but said she'd definitely ask.
She had just a few minutes left during lunch and had bought nothing to eat in Senator Square. Gina was right there beside her.
Carson High can be confusing for any student coming in for the first time, like Brian Re, 14, a transfer student from Silver State Charter School.
"That school was a little harder," he said. "It takes a lot of self-discipline. I don't have it, so I decided to go here."
Brian held two small pizzas, microwaved before school and in plastic lunch bags, in his hand. He wore a black "Bad Religion" T-shirt.
"It's almost impossible to find your next class," he said.
As he and Kyle Reynolds, an old friend newly rediscovered, headed across the school's front field during lunch they stopped to share thoughts about their first day.
"It's hard," said Kyle about the size of Carson High. "It's bigger than middle school."
Kyle, in a black Homer Simpson T-shirt, was headed to Walgreens with $5 to find something to eat. A former Carson Middle School student, he said his mom wished him good luck that morning. A personal assistant might have served him better.
"I went to orientation," he said. "And I'm still lost."
The boys are taking several of the same classes this year and caught up with one another in an auto-tech class.
Carson High was on shortened periods Wednesday to give its students time to attend all of their classes. The regular bell schedule begins today.
More than 750 freshman started at the school on Wednesday. Even so, Spanish teacher John Hazard, who has been at the school for eight years, said he thought the first day was going pretty well.
"There are a lot fewer kids showing up late to class this year," he said. "It seems everything is running smoother. That makes it nice."
n Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.
