According to high schools across the nation, freshmen have the most difficult time transitioning from the middle school lifestyle that they’ve grown accustomed to over the years, to the more rigorous and mature high school lifestyle. We call this, “the freshman transition”.
The biggest problem seems to be the maturity level of the freshman. They’re their own worst enemy.
“In elementary and middle schools, they are on the upper chain of power and authority. Ninth graders are still very immature starting high school but by the end of their first year they’ve matured tremendously,” Mrs. Knight, Osceola High School teacher.
Although it is only temporary, according to Mrs. Knight, it seems the key to breaking the “immature” nature of a freshman is by accepting and taking on their responsibilities given to them. But that’s not the only thing to get a successful transition. Not at all. Both Mrs. Knight and Chris Knight, OHS sophomore who went through “the freshman transition,” believe getting involved in clubs and organizations around campus is just as dire as taking on responsibility. It seems that the message is to get involved and do what you have to do, and you will be just fine
It seems that some of the freshmen already realize this though. When asked “Do you feel that the people you ‘hang’ around with impact your high school experience?” Ariana Cardenas stated, “Yeah, because your piers are the ones who ‘decide’ your choices, you don’t want to seem “uncool” in front of them. Therefore, if you surround yourself with good influences and people with good priorities in return you will be good”.
The freshman aren’t the only ones who had to transition this year though. ALL of OHS did. The new lunches, 7 period day, and new administration makes it hard on everyone “if anything, it was the easiest on the freshmen,” said Mrs. Knight.
In fact freshman are even saying it’s easy! “Disregarding the fact that upper classmen treat us (freshman) like we’re nothing just because we’re younger, the transition has been pretty smooth. It’s easy because the 7 periods is the same as middle school therefore, it’s not as much of a change at all,” Ariana Cardenas said.
Although there are some freshmen such as Johnathan Vallejo, who says the transition was a bit nerve-racking; he also says, “Overall its fun and we enjoy the freedom given.” However, there’s still the freshman like Ariana, who think “The heightened sense of responsibility allows us to make our own choices, we decide if we fail or not.”
According to Ms. Diauto, a way OHS could have a successful freshman transition would be to expose incoming freshman to the high school experience before they actually start. For example, a shadow day or an open house for only freshman. Also, putting more information online and into the public.”
A piece of advice that was given to all incoming freshmen is this: “Stop, Look, Listen, and make good choices when it comes to school,” Ms. Diauto
