The School of the Week is Darlington Upper School.

The freshman class went to the Floyd County Teen Maze to explore the consequences of their life decisions through interactive games. The maze took place at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds on Oct. 24.

When they were told about it, students didn’t know what the maze was going to be like.

“Going in, I was expecting something pretty graphic and terrible. I was told lots of different stories about it from past years. I didn’t really know what to expect,” freshman Charlie Bell said.

When students arrived at the maze, they were told what it was about and what they were going to do.

“I didn’t know it was going to be games we had to go through to see how our lives could turn out,” freshman Mary Prusakowski said.

The freshmen started to understand how the decisions they make can affect their lives.

“The teen maze helped me realize that things can have real-life and harsh consequences if you don’t make the right choice,” freshman Gina Viehoff said. “Like if you gave in to peer pressure, you could end up doing drugs or getting things like STIs.”

The interactive aspects of the games were some student’s favorite and most realistic part of the maze.

“It was cool how if you got pregnant, they actually put a baby bump on you and made you take care of the baby. If you went to jail, they would yell at you and make it believable,” Prusakowski said. “You realize how difficult things can get if you make the wrong choice.”

Some thought that what they learned from the maze wouldn’t stick with them throughout the years.

“The maze didn’t really have that much of an effect on me. It was kind of pointless to me,” freshman Redding Shaw said. “You do learn stuff, but it’s common sense to not make those bad choices.”

Students who previously participated in the maze thought it was a good experience, and felt that they had learned lots of things from it.

“I thought the maze was really fun. It gave you lots of different, unpredictable obstacles that you could go through in life, and you would learn about what it could do to you and your future,” sophomore Ashlyn Woods said. “I learned that I have control over my choices with drugs, sex, or crimes.”