Freshmen Thoughts on High School

Every year, 8th graders make the transition to high School and take on the new changes of school life. These changes can be drastic and may even be an intimidating process at times. However, this is not always true and some students transition from middle school to high school almost seamlessly. I interviewed a few freshmen and asked for their thoughts on the transition from middle School to high School.

Bobo L, who’s been at AISG for 7 years, has enjoyed a relatively smooth transition from middle school to high school. Within her first few days of high School, she “realized that [she] has a lot more freedom than [she] had in [middle school], but also that grades mattered a lot in High School.” She feels that “the biggest change from middle school to high school is that [the teachers] put a lot of trust in [us] to be responsible.” She later explained that she enjoys the freedom and trust that the teachers put on the students because “it feels nice to be trusted.”

Jacki L, who’s been at AISG for 7 years as well, explained that he has had “a relatively smooth transition and now that we are starting to get settled into high school life, it is becoming fairly more enjoyable.” However, he also states that “it is different than middle school in the sense that we have more pressure to perform well on assessments,” but he also enjoys the freedom that comes with high School, and is learning how to become a more independent learner.

Though transitioning from middle school to high school is a stressful process in itself, moving to a new school in a completely new country adds even more stress on top of that. However, Evan T, a new student to AISG, doesn’t seem to be too bothered by his move to China, and even less stressed from the transition from middle school to high school, “its just another new change,” explains Evan. “It’s not different [from middle school],” says Evan, “just a bit more work.”

The freshmen of AISG seem to have had a great experience so far in high School, transitioning from middle school to high school with relative ease. I hope that all freshmen have a great first year of high School, filled with high aspirations, joy, and success.