Volume 1 Issue 2 May 2014
In The Middle
INSIDE IN THE MIDDLE
Teacher Profile page 2
Terra Nova and Duke TIPS page 2
Ask Arizona page 3
Student Profile page 3
Sound of Music Photo Essay pages 4-5
Spring Break page 6
The transition to freshman year can be challenging Amya’ Gainey Journalist
Transitioning from middle school to high school is a scary thought. Who am I going to sit with at lunch? Will any of my friends be in my classes? What is the workload going to be like? These are all questions that run through an 8th graders’ mind while thinking of high school. The classes are very different freshman year than they are in middle school. For starters, the classes are 1 ½ hours instead of the usual 45 minute classes. Secondly, the lunch time changes from 12:15 to 10:50. As a freshman you also have to deal with not having a study hall already set into your schedule. Freshman year is the time to start getting very serious about your transcript, in other words, how you look on paper. Elite colleges such as Duke, North Carolina State, University of North Carolina, and Davidson all look for that person who has a lot to offer. “They (Colleges) want you to excel in aca-
demics, have lots of community service hours, and also participate in different clubs and extracurricular activities. Colleges would rather you get A’s in regulars classes than be in honors and fail. Each year of high school you should advance in your classes and not stay at the same level of academics,” Guidance Counselor Greg Lineberger stated.
Being able to manage your time is also very key. For instance, being an exceptional athlete and student can be very hard to juggle. “Take a study hall. The homework is a lot different than middle school. It’s hard to juggle both a sport and honors classes. If you procrastinate, then everything piles up, and you will basically drown from all the
Photo by Olivia Kinser Above: Freshmen Jake Hardman, Alec Parsons, Noah Perault, and Chris Martin recite the poem “O Captain, My Captain” in Mrs. Isenhour’s 9th grade English class.
work,” says freshman Matthew Hobbs, who runs cross country and plays basketball. Most freshmen come into high school scared of the upperclassmen, but because of the warm and comfortable environment here, students have nothing to worry about. The upperclassman try to be mentors and also
look after underclassmen as though they are family. “I was scared at first because I was homeschooled and I heard that upperclassmen could be bullies, but when I came they embraced me and made it an easy transition,” Fajha Bradford said.
4 Tips for Freshies 1. Pick classes that you will excel in. 2. Do your homework the night it’s assigned. 3. Get used to having 11/2 hour classes. 4. Don’t have too much going on at one time.