Before going to high school some of my older friends from my town were saying things like, “High school is terrible and you will miss 8th grade so much!”

 At first I was scared and did not know what to expect, but then I realized that high school was not a bad experience. I wanted to see what other people thought about their experience, so I interviewed some students here at Pingree. After interviewing many Pingree students, I realized that people have many different thoughts about freshman year. 

Abby Bennett, a 9th grade student, stated, “It’s harder being the youngest since everyone is older.” Holden Kutzen added: “I don’t know as many people as I did in 8th grade and I’m very young compared to others.” 

Freshman Cooper Lenci enjoys this year as much as he enjoyed his old school. He says,  “8th grade was the best because I knew everybody, and 9th grade is also very fun but I got used to it fast.” In this case, Cooper is impartial about his experience in freshman year.

Will Coughlin and Teddy Perkin, both 9th grade students, agreed that 8th grade was very good because they were very used to it, and they did prefer it over 9th grade so far. Perkin said he is not used to 9th grade, but he thinks that his 9th grade year will end up being great! Coughlin said he was taking 9th grade day by day and was trying to get adjusted but it was not that bad.

However, I also wanted to get the perspective of an older student to see what their answer would be. I interviewed 11th-grader Ollie Vantuyl and he had a slightly different perspective than Holden. Vantuyl stated “I found a good friend group in 9th grade and it was different because in 8th grade the people at my old school were toxic.” 

To conclude I just want to say that anyone about to go into high school as a 9th grader next year, you should not worry about it too much. You have advisors, teachers, and fellow students to help you if you are stressed and need help. Even though some freshman Pingree students prefer 8th grade over 9th grade, it is also because it is the beginning of the school year and they are very new. The one upperclassman I interviewed also said he liked 9th grade better than 8th, so you never know what you will or won’t like. 

So anyone going into high school next year, don’t worry and keep an open mind because you will be just fine!