One of the biggest transitions that American teenagers experience is the passage from middle school to high school. Middle school had its pros and cons. It is a transition from being sheltered by teachers while struggling through the “awkward years” and learning to take responsibility for yourself. In high school, students learn to organize and manage their time while juggling school work and extracurriculars. Although a few students found middle school to be similar to high school, others found that their expectations of high school differed greatly from the challenging reality it presented.

Senior Bryan Baez felt that his transition was “pretty mundane.” He was certain that high school was going to be “just like middle school,” but with greater difficulty in curriculum. He later concluded that he was right; high school was harder than middle school. However, he complained that middle school had become “very boring” at the time, and he was excited to meet new people. Baez was shocked to find that he acquired “closer connections with teachers” in high school, which was not the case in middle school. Additionally, some of the teachers began to “treat him like an adult.” Even so, Baez concluded that high school did not prove to be much different from middle school.

On the contrary, Senior Saara Mohamed encountered more difficulties in her transition “because of the larger environment.” For some students, meeting an entirely new group of people can be daunting. Mohamed adjusted to the new setting by using it as an opportunity to get to know people in all of her classes. Overall, she noticed a significant difference between middle school and high school. She said that even though each student had an advisor, the transition “allowed [her] to be more independent.” Saara said that in high school it was up to her to make decisions that would benefit her in the long run, rather than relying on teachers to help her. She also noted that “the work demand […] greatly increased” as classes became more rigorous.

An anonymous freshman said that high school and middle school are very similar and that the only differences were the courses. The freshman believes that the expectations were very much the same, except the teachers would now refer to students as “young adults.” The student also stated that in high school there was a “shift in the work load” but it still had “homework, tests, friends, and teachers.” Ultimately, very little changed for the freshman in the transition from middle school to high school.

Many students will experience this transition differently, but what’s important is that we all have an inherent ability to adjust to new settings. That ability is challenged in the shift from middle school to high school.