Something that has been on 8th graders’ minds recently is high school. Mrs. Nardoza, a science teacher at WMS and the volleyball coach for WHS piece of advice to all 8th graders is to “Grow up” because she stated that “there is a big difference between middle school and high school”. Every single 8th grader next year is going to be surrounded by many different people who are older than them. Avery Carlson, an 8th grade student at WMS stated, “Right now we’re the oldest in our school and next year we’re going back to being the youngest and it’s going to be hard to adjust to.”
Many students have had almost the same reason why they are scared of high school and that is the new people and being afraid of harder classes and the size of the school. Dylan Stephen an 8th grade student at WMS said, “The teachers don’t give you as much help as in middle school and the teachers give you more leniency to get your work done where in high school if you don’t get it done they really don’t care”.
Eddie Grabon, a student at WMS enjoys the challenge of work and said, “Learning is better than Working”.
Students have stated both they are excited to be with new people and people who are older and some are not. It can be overwhelming to be surrounded by new people we are not used to. Bella G, an 8th grade student at WMS said “I’m excited about meeting new people because we are used to the same people”. Some people are comfortable with how everything is now and others want a change.
A lot of students’ main focus about high school is sports. Nardoza stated, “Students need to be sure that they are concerned with their grades because if you have poor grades you are not even able to try out for a team and if you are on a team and have poor grades you’re not allowed to play in any of the games and that’s if the coach decides to keep you on the team”. In high school grades and behavior play a big role in sports. Mrs. Nardoza went on to say, “If you get in trouble in school, you also get in trouble in sports”
There is a big difference between middle school sports and high school sports. In high school you are trying out against people who are stronger and older than you. Nardoza said it’s very hard to get on sports teams if there is no freshman team. Mrs. Nardoza said, “High School sports are definitely competitive and the competition is definitely higher”.
In High School there is definitely a lot more pressure. Ashlynn Lynch, an 8th grade student at WMS, said, “A lot of pressure can make people succeed , or it can make them fail, it really depends on the person.” Lynch went on to say, “As you keep growing up the pressure gets higher in sports because they are all competing to be the athlete in that sport.”
Many people often want to be the best in their sport or “the star player” and that often shifts them to not work as a team and just worry about them self being the best. As sports get harder it’s important to still work as a team.
Lynch said, “Being nervous for high school is something everyone goes through but nobody really talks about it. It’s kinda just something you experience.” It is okay to be nervous for high school, a lot of people are.
Preparing for high school is very important and may be hard. It’s important to come up with goals for yourself that you want to accomplish. For example being organized, getting on top of school work and to not procrastinate. These are what many students had said they wanted to accomplish before going into high school. It is important to come into a new environment with a new mindset and new goals.
