There comes a time in every middle schoolers life when two words come to mind: high school. The transition from middle school to high school can have a lot of different affects on students.

Junior Tyler Streeter can relate to these feelings from experience. "I would always go to the wrong classes because I wasn't used to the block-schedule," says Tyler. The middle school daily schedule consists of a seven block schedule, and the classes remain the same each day. However, the high school is on what is called a block-schedule, which is where you have two different days of classes. One is referred to as a "black day," the other is "gold day." The days repeat themselves, and will continue to throw off freshman's sense of school, but in due time they adjust.

Block-scheduling isn't the only thing affecting freshman transitions though. According to Senior Ryan Orr, due to his height, he was afraid of something a little different. "I was really afraid of being stuffed in a locker because there's a lot of bigger people than me," says Ryan.  In CHS' defense, Ryan hasn't been stuffed in a locker to this day so all this hype about being a freshman may not be so bad.

You have to feel the actual feeling head on though in order to understand.  Eighth Grader Damon Walker is hoping high school will be a lot of fun. "I think it will be fun because of the bigger school, and better food, and I really hope I learn more," says Damon. Despite the his joyous expression for high school, Damon did mention he'd miss 7th grade social studies teacher Mr. Roper because he was a really fun teacher. While excited for high school and remarking about things he'd miss at the middle school, Damon has his eyes on the gold because the thing he's looking forward to the most is graduating his senior year.  

Damon's got a while to wait before worrying about graduation, but Damon's friend, 8th Grader Collin Riley, also wanted to share his views on becoming a freshman. "I think being a freshman will be more fun but also stressful because of the hectic schedule of block-scheduling, but overall I'm excited about becoming a freshman!" says Collin. Collin also mentioned he thought high school held more opportunities to do what you want. Collin and Damon think alike because he said he would miss Mr. Roper, and even stated Mr. Roper was his favorite teacher as well. Having already finished his freshman schedule, Collin, like Damon, is also thinking ahead.  He mentioned he wanted to get a lot of college credit his senior year so he could get into a good college, and get a good paying job one day. He even mentioned he already had his sights set on attending the University of Missouri.

The transition from becoming an 8th grader to a freshman can be hard on some kids, but for the most part it looks like most of the 8th grade students are excited about becoming freshmen, attending high school next year, and the students and staff at CHS will do our best to welcome them as the newest Dragons at CHS!