Friday was the first day Natrona County High School welcomed its newest faces - about 120 incoming freshmen students.

They're the first ninth-grade class to walk the halls of NCHS, and they were more than ready for freshman orientation on Friday.

"I've always wanted to go to NC," said Lance Clark, 14. "They've a great athletic program, so that's why I am here."

Lance's mother, Janet Vaughan, said she was excited but a little nervous about her son starting his freshman year at NCHS.

"It's so much bigger," she said. "And there's a lot more for him to keep in check."

Principal Dean Kelly said most of the new ninth-graders are from Dean Morgan and CY junior high schools, the two major "feeder" schools for NCHS. Poison Spider's entire eighth grade student class will also attend the high school as freshmen.

Freshmen will have their core subject classes in a wing separate from upperclassmen, and will also have separate lunch and physical education periods. Other elective classes will still have a good mix of under- and upperclassmen, Kelly said.

"I think it will be a good mix to help them make that first year successful," he said.

Keeping freshmen apart from older grades will hopefully give the students a chance to adjust to being in high school and have a successful transition from eighth-grade, Kelly said.

He pointed to research that shows students who have a solid foundation during their first year of high school are more likely to graduate.

"If we have 120 on (August) 18th, we'd like to have 120 as sophomores," Kelly said. "Our biggest challenge is the logistics of our building."

Kelly said starting a ninth-grade program now readies NCHS for the district's transition to a 6-8, 9-12 grade configuration. Once the transition is made, NCHS will hopefully have a successful program in place, he added.

"I'm really excited to have the ninth-graders here with us," Kelly said. "For so long they've been earning high school credits as junior high students."

New student Donald Bellamy, 15, said he decided to attend NCHS as a freshman to take advantage of its academic and extra-curricular programs. Donald switched to NCHS from CY Junior High and said he was looking forward to the first day of school.

"If you can survive the first day of school, you can map out the rest of the year," Donald said.

Reach education reporter Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com.