Shuffling through the hallways in between class, waiting for seemingly endless eternities in the parking lot, and fitting eight people to a table during lunch are all signs that Potomac Falls has a large student body–around 1,527 students. That number is only going to swell next year with the arrival of the Class of 2018.

Next year’s freshman class will be the largest in our school, exceeding next year’s senior class, which currently boasts 397 students. Although these numbers are subject to change between next September and right now, next year’s freshman class currently has 420 students. Such a large freshman class with have implications on the school.

Junior Matt Griffiths believes that students and teachers will both be at a disadvantage with the number of freshman.

“I think that with a full school as it is already, we will have less individualized attention. The teachers will have an increased load, and with the budget cuts, the teachers will have a huge work load,” said Griffiths.

Agreeing that the school is already crowded, sophomore Ashley Rice predicts that her commute to class will be impacted by the large freshman class.

“It’ll just be too crowded, like in the cafeteria in the hallways,” said Rice.

According to freshman Corinne Parry, sports and social events will be affected just as much as academics.

“Freshmen are already annoying and they’ll just take up seats at games,” said Parry.

There is a strong consensus among upperclassmen, as well as current freshmen, that freshmen classes are generally obnoxious. According to several students this year, next year’s freshmen class will be no different.

“I’d rather have the largest class be another class, and not the freshman class. Freshmen are just generally annoying,” said Rice.

Aside from the commute between class being impacted, Rice believes the large freshman class will have other implications in the future.

“When [the freshmen] are older, the parking lot will be too crowded,” said Rice.

Although there may be some possible negatives of having a large freshman class for the other classes next school year, there will also be some positive impacts about the grand freshman class next year.

“It’ll be good for turn-out at sports events, but it will be really good for the freshmen to have a huge class at the pep rallies next year,” said Parry.

Griffiths believes there are no positives to having so many freshmen roaming the halls of Potomac Falls next year.

“They [freshmen] are usually dazed and confused, and the more that there are, the crazier the hallways will be,” said Griffiths.

Whether next year’s massive freshman class is obnoxious or they keep to themselves, Potomac Falls will be a different place through crowded hallways and energetic pep rallies next year.