The end of the year is almost here. With less than 2 months left of school, 7th graders have to start thinking about their last year of middle school coming up, and 8th graders have to think about their first year of high school. While there are eighth graders at Rosemont, along with eighth grade teachers and counselors available for 7th graders, eighth graders usually just have to rely on vague, slightly threatening messages, such as “this is nothing compared to high school,” or “just wait until you go to high school,” or even, “teachers in high school won’t take that”. It just sends confusing, mixed messages to already confused eighth graders about high school. So, to ease part of the confusion, here is a list of things to do before going into high school:
GO ON XELLO
Even if you’ve already completed all your Xello assignments, it’s still important to go on Xello and look at the lengthy lists of colleges, majors, and career paths so you can possibly have a plan going into high school. Having a tentative plan for high school can motivate a student to get good grades, keep up with extracurriculars, and volunteering. It can also help students choose a pathway to follow, which helps people get into UC schools.
KEEP TRACK OF GRADES
It is important to keep track of your grades because as your grades raise, more pathways open up. Pathways include anything from advanced classes to pathways leading to UC colleges. It can open up paths to the future that you might want now, but might want later. It is always important to keep your options open, especially in high school, because people’s minds change so quickly.
RESEARCH COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
On the course registration google form, there is a link to CV Community Service Opportunities. Look at the chart on the right to see the different genres of community service.
There are good things about exploring different community service opportunities, and that’s what someone should do in 9th grade. Exploring different volunteer opportunities can also lead to choosing a career genre that youn enjoy. For example, if you really enjoy volunteering at an animal shelter, you might look into a career as a veterinarian. Or, if you enjoy volunteering for hospitals, that could lead to joining a medical pathway in 10th grade. Along with this, showing a consistant pathway of interests in extracurriculars and volunteering can help with college acceptances.
RESEARCH CLUB OPPORTUNITIES
Right next to community service opportunities on the CV Registration Google Form, there is a list of Clubs and Orginizations (CLORG), which show the many different types of clubs at CV, and a brief description about what they do. Joining clubs is important in high school to expand your social circle and build your resume. Along with this, clubs can help you expand your interests, and explore new hobbies within school.
GROWING FRIENDSHIPS
There are many reasons why growing friendships before high school are important. Friends can make you laugh, help you in class, and finding a group of friends can be the difference between a fun year or a stressful one. Since high school will already be more stressful, it is important to find a good friend group that will brighten your day and lift you up. While having friends is important, the quality of your friends is more important than the quantity. Always make sure that you’re not focusing on.
While it is important to know what to do before high school, all the preparation in the world will not prepare a student for high school without an idea of what they are getting into. So here are some things that a student can expect in high school.
CLASSES
Unlike many assumptions, classes in high school don’t immediately get more difficult and rigorous. It’s just that the stakes are higher. In middle school, if you fail a class, the worst that can happen is that you are not eligible for all the promotion benefits. But, if you fail a class in high school, not only do you have to retake it, but it stays on your permanent record forever. In high school, every assignment, every grade, and every mess up will follow you to college.
FACING PRESSURE
Middle school is a transition period and a time for students to learn more about academics, their interests, and what they want for their future. In high school, most of that changes. While in ninth grade, people won’t immediately expect you to know what you want to do with your future, but there will be pressure. It might start with little hints, but the older you get, the more the pressure will increase. To that, I have two suggestions. First off, it is important to have an idea of what you want to do, no matter how general it is. Your idea can be as specific as knowing what specific college you want, what job you aspire to, or just wanting a four-year college experience. But second off, and more importantly, don’t let anyone rush you into a career path or work pathway that you don’t truly want. Make sure that you take the time to figure out your passions and wants for your future, and do not let anyone, from a teacher, to a family member, to a friend, say otherwise.
NEW TEACHERS
When going into a new school, there are always going to be new teachers, with new teaching styles. While teachers may not seem more strict in every way, they will not coddle you the way middle school teachers do. Extensions on assignments will be more rare, test makeups almost nonexistent, and teachers will be less forgiving of incidents and infractions. Along with this, it is important to always be kind to your teachers this year, because if there is one definite thing, it is that teachers talk. If you are a bad student this year, at least a few teachers at CV will know.
FREEDOM
While there may be many scary, new, and more difficult things about high school, a new sense of freedom will come with it. Again, like most things in high school, it won’t arrive right away, but soon enough, you’ll realize that you have more freedom than you ever did in middle school. But, it is important to make the right decisions with that freedom because it can be taken away as easily as it was given.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While making the transition from middle to high school may seem daunting, it is important to remember that you’ve been preparing for this experience throughout all of your middle and elementary school years. All the study habits you’ve learned, the friends you’ve made, and all the challenges you’ve faced have prepared you for the next few years of your life. In some ways, high school is not as scary and daunting as it may seem right now, but in other ways, high school is going to be much more difficult and intense than middle school ever was. While you cannot fully know what to do for high school, or how to prepare, it is important to just keep trying your best in every aspect of your academic and, even social, life.
SPECIAL THANKS!!!
Here is a special thanks to Saskia Vroom and Luke Anz for supplying us with pictures, and Mrs. Monaco for being a source of information about high school.
