With a school as big as North Surry, most freshmen are excited about the prospect of residing mainly in one wing of the school for the first year.

The North Star Academy allows the freshmen to have all of their core classes in one wing of the school, which they had the opportunity to check out during Thursday night’s Freshman Fling.

At the event, the students received their schedules and then spent time walking around the school finding their classrooms and meeting their teachers.

“I think it’s easier to get settled in one part of the school at first,” said Rebecca Brewer after meeting her homeroom teacher.

Ryan Critz feels like he may be at a slight advantage over some of the other freshmen because his mom is a teacher at the school.

“I know how the school is since I’ve been coming here,” he said, adding that he is looking forward to making some new friends.

Jon Simmons is both nervous and excited for the first day of school. He hopes to make new friends by going out for the wrestling and baseball teams.

This is the second year the school has had the North Star Academy for freshmen, and while the program will function in much the same way as before, there will be some new faces associated with the running of the school.

Neil Atkins, who was in charge of the program last year, has moved to Pilot Mountain Middle School as principal, meaning Principal Bill Goins and Assistant Principals Brandon Whitaker and Melanie Holt will be taking a more active role in the running of the program.

“We’ve had to shift some duties,” said Goins. “Our goal remains the same and that is to provide a smooth transition for freshmen as they enter high school.”

The night also hosted an open house for upperclassmen from 3 to 5 p.m. before the freshman fling from 5 to 7 p.m. According to Goins, there were more upperclassmen in attendance at their portion of the event than in previous years while the parent turnout for the freshman fling remained high.

“We had a great turnout for both events,” said Goins.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.