By Meghan Runte
The first quarter of the 2025-2026 school year ended on Friday, October 10. As the quarter drew to a close, McNicholas students shared their regrets from the first quarter, and how they planned to fix these mistakes for the rest of the school year.
Of the 42 students who completed the Milestone survey, the focus was primarily on academics when they shared what they plan to improve.
Senior Fletcher Pyles said that he regrets “not turning my work in right away and not reading directions carefully.” He also shared that he plans on fixing this moving to the second quarter by writing all his assignments down and being diligent with his work. He feels this will boost his GPA and improve his understanding of his classes.
Sophomore Parker Birt included that she wished she would have studied more for the first few tests because her overall grade could be better now. She planned to “schedule my time and make sure I’m always on top of things for the second quarter,” she said.
Junior Silas Harvey stated that he wished he could’ve had more work done early on, so he was less behind throughout the quarter. “I plan on getting things in on the day they are due because I feel like it could keep me from a bad start to the next quarter,” Harvey stated.
Junior Micheal Muenchen admitted that he didn’t spend enough time studying for math and completing the homework, and now he is “living the consequences.” He plans on working harder in math and also stated that “even though it will take more of my time, I have to stick with it.”
Sophomore Lucy Brock focused more on the friendship regrets she had throughout the quarter and less on the academics. She stated that she regrets “spending all my time thinking that I could force someone to be my friend.” And this quarter she plans on staying “focused on herself and not as much on other people,” as well as, “hanging out with people who love me and care about me”
Freshman Kennedi Blair regrets not joining all of the clubs she was interested in when signups were sent at the beginning of the school year. She said she hopes another opportunity will be given to join clubs, and said “if more club opportunities come up, I would like to take them.”
The first quarter of a school year sets out the course for the rest of the year, but there is always room for improvement as the year continues. Many Rockets are planning to improve academic, extracurricular, and friendship regrets as McNick enters the second quarter of the 2025-26 school year.
The McNicholas Milestone 