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Onward and Upward: Eighth-graders prepare for transition to high school
Most who experienced it remember the excitement and
trepidation of going to high school: new school, new teachers, new clothes, new
sports teams, new friends. But how do incoming freshmen feel today?
According to eight of the now former Ledyard Middle
School students, who sat in the middle school’s conference room talking about
their transition to high school, telling stories, and laughing over lunch a few
weeks ago, they’re ready to move on to Ledyard
High.
When asked what most excites them about high school, the
universal answer was leaving middle school. They said that this was not a
reflection of a poor experience at LMS, but evidence of a good one.
“I’m pumped,” said Ledyard eighth-grader Mike Evans of
the transition to high school.
“Yeah, but now we go back to being the lowest of the
pack again,” countered Justin Patrick.
Being the youngest again is one of the elements the
students find most unsettling about the move to high school.
Another is homework.
“It just seems like the teachers are going to expect so
much more of us next year,” noted Tori Jones when her fellow eighth-grader,
Treasure Coram, commented that homework assignments will no longer be allotted
several days for completion.
LHS incoming sophomore Matthew Moriarty agreed, but
explained that while homework also frightened him at first, the block scheduling
at LHS not only lightens the homework load, but also makes studying for
exams—with only four rather than eight per semester—much easier.
Taylor Johnson, also a soon-to-be sophomore, noted that
the high school allowed her to take classes that she couldn’t have in the
structured scheduling of the middle school, such as creative writing—a longtime
hobby of hers.
Patty Pollin, the LMS guidance counselor for the
graduating eighth-graders, said LMS does help the students with their high
school schedules, but more so in clarifying what a graduation requirement is, or
how a credit works.
“These are things that the kids have never heard
before,” she said. Pollin feels, though, despite their nervousness, the
soon-to-be high-schoolers are ready for the next step.
This could be due, in part, to the efforts of both LMS
and LHS to smooth the transition. In addition to several on-site orientations to
LHS, LHS guidance counselors meet with the students, and this year Pollin
planned a scavenger hunt for the eighth-graders in the high school after LHS’
exams concluded, so the exploration of their new environment would be “just a
bit more comfortable,” she said.
Apart from academics, the LMS eighth-graders said they
are very excited about participating in the new activities at LHS. Elliot
Pillsbury plans to continue playing his saxophone in the LHS band, which the
other seven students dub the best they’ve heard. Katherine Stapleton wants to
get involved in all three sports seasons with the volleyball, basketball, and
track teams.
Incoming Ledyard sophomores Sean Curtin and Wahnetah
Carty recognize that staying involved during their freshman year helped them to
adjust. Sean, who played on the football, basketball, and lacrosse teams, said
athletics helped him to meet people in school, especially some of the older
kids. Wahnetah said her involvement in athletics and chorus, in addition to
having a senior brother in the school, made her adjustment to the high school
“pretty easy, and not very long.”
Having experienced the merger of three elementary
schools into one middle school, the final concern brought up among the
eighth-graders was the possibility of losing friends in the flurry of change. As
Katherine and Elliot spoke to Jenna Farquhar about scheduling, Tyler Rossi and
Mike talked about sports, and Treasure corrected Justin’s dancing, which he was
performing based on his memory of her recent talent show performance, one cannot
help but believe that these once-strangers will have no trouble at all finding
or maintaining friendships when they move on to
LHS.
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