The transition from middle school to high school at SCH was a scary thought in the back of my mind throughout the eighth grade. However, now after a complete semester of high school… it’s not as bad as people make it seem. Throughout middle school, teachers warned us of being bombarded with homework, poor grades, and tireless working expectations. Even though high school was made out to seem impossible, our teachers also made it very clear that we would be assisted in our transitions to high school.
SCH has a lot of programs that help incoming freshmen cope with the new environment that is upper school. The first is Outward Bound: a five-day shared hiking experience with your advisory that helps form bonds among classmates. Second, is an orientation day at the end of the summer in which students get to see the campus and visualize what will be their day-to-day routines. During the school year, freshmen have a seminar each week that teaches our youngest high school students the small and important details of high school.
In my personal experience, the transition was initially very rough, especially during the very first couple of weeks of school. However, soon after my first few tests, I found that I had already adjusted. The adjustment was easier than I thought it would be due to the study habits and work management skills I learned in SCH Middle School.
Brady Grieve, an SCH freshman who went to SCH middle school, reflected on his transition to upper school:
“It was a big change as far as the workload goes, but with the study halls and free time during the day, it was easy as long as you can manage your time well. Being in honors makes it harder because of the tests and hard work, but it is rewarding. It wasn’t as hard as the middle school teachers said, but you have to be very good at managing your time. It’s good that sports don’t start til after four because you have more time to do your work or lift. Being at SCH for middle school was helpful because it prepared me for the bigger responsibilities I had to take on in high school. I think outward bound was fun and good for getting to know my advisory and the new kids, but the seminar was a waste of time that I could’ve been spending in a club.”
I also interviewed Kevin Stroup. He went to Keith Valley Middle School before coming to SCH for his freshman year. When I asked about coming from a different middle school to SCH he said this:
“Going from middle school to high school was not as big of a transition as I thought it would be. The workload is a lot more, but SCH gives you more time to complete your work. The big difference when coming to SCH from my middle school was that SCH felt like one big community and everyone was close. The work at SCH is a lot harder than Keith Valley, though, but I was very prepared for this. Outward Bound helped me connect and meet new people because I came to SCH knowing nobody. I had only known kids on the basketball team, but no other freshman. I think the orientation day in the summer was helpful, but the seminar was kind of hit or miss. Some of the topics in the seminar were useful, but some of the topics seemed kind of useless to me.”
Then to finish my round of interviews, I asked my advisor, Mr. Kreher, for his opinion on how he thinks our advisory has adjusted to high school.
“Honestly, I think you guys were overly prepared. You guys came in here ready to work super hard, but high school wasn’t as hard as you built it up to be. I think that everybody was prepared for 100% difficulty, but it was just 75% difficulty. I’m not saying that there haven’t been a few road bumps or challenges, but things have been good overall.”
