The High School Transition

    Educators say that 9th grade year is the most important year of High School. The transition from one school to another can be challenging for many students and their families. Adolescents transitioning from middle school to high school often have an excessive amount of stress placed on them. There is a lot of anxiety among students and their families about the transition to a new school. Particularly when it involves moving to a different building and losing the familiar routines and long-established social support systems. The transition to high school has become more important because of the high rate of course failures and dropout rates in the 9th grade.

    Kasandra Martinez says, “My transition was easy because I had a tremendous amount of support at home and from friends that attended my old school, so it felt somewhat similar.” One of her main issues was finding her way around the school. But once she made a daily routine, she quickly learned that it wasn’t hard at all. Kasandra states. “I also realized that the teachers are stricter than they were in middle school, they don’t ask you a thousand times to do your work, so if you’re not working they will have you removed from class immediately cause you’re considered a disruption to the classroom.”

    In most middle schools there were six 45 minute classes but at South Broward we have, four 90 minute classes every other day. Her transition is an example of a successful transition. There have been cases where adolescents could not handle the pressure of high school; so they ended up dropping out. Some adolescents have family issues at home that they bring with them to school and act like they don’t care about school or anything else, hence why they end up dropping out at an extremely young age. Hopefully, if you are a freshman and reading this article, then you are going to keep prospering in school instead of giving up.