By Florence Finkelstein
7:00 am: Julien Goldberg has snoozed his alarm around 3 times. Exhausted from a late Sunday night of homework, he brushes his teeth while he rereads the last few pages of the Human Story in preparation for 1st period History with Tom.
Whether you are currently going through it or have in the past, everybody at 40 Charlton Street has had a taste of what it is like to be a nervous freshman. Goldberg is a current freshman at LREI, and though he is a lifer, his transition from middle to high school has definitely not been smooth sailing. “On the first day of school we had more homework than we ever had in middle school,” Goldberg says. This is a common observation made by 9th graders coming from the middle school.
8:45 am: Goldberg starts his week with his hardest class: History. “It is very different from 8th grade History because we didn’t even have History, we had humanities,” Goldberg says. “Tom is…I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s a good teacher.” A lot of teachers in the high school have reputations passed down by their previous students. History teacher Tom Murphy is known as one of the “hardest teachers,” but this substantial push inspires students to strive for success in his class. Junior Justin Blades has had multiple classes with Murphy and feels like he is one of the best teachers at the school. “Even though he expects a lot of writing and is very harsh with his grading, it has made me a better writer,” Blades says. Goldberg feels the lack of preparation he had in middle school in annotating and essay writing causes the History workload to multiply. This leaves him wondering if it will ever get easier. Five other students who did not go to LREI’s middle school confirmed also feeling being overloaded with homework in freshman year compared to middle school. Although History is found to be the most challenging class for Goldberg and many freshmen alike, Goldberg “feel[s] like [he is] learning a lot, not only about History itself but about writing and annotating as well.”
10:00 am: After History, Goldberg walks from the 1st floor to the 5th floor to Studio Art with James French. The freshmen have an art rotation where they have a six-week exploration of each art class to help them choose their electives in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. “James is really funny,” Goldberg says. “He criticizes people’s artwork, which may seem bad, but it is actually very helpful and it makes it more fun.” The ninth-grade art system allows students to get to know new teachers and have a taste of a variety of classes. Although six weeks may seem like a short period of time to be in each class, it allows the freshmen to give each art class a fair chance to hopefully influence their electives in upcoming years.
11:10 am: After studio art, Goldberg heads to Heather Brubaker’s World Literature class. Brubaker, the former ninth-grade dean and current ninth-grade English teacher, has experienced many different batches of freshmen throughout the 5 years she has worked at LREI. “I love teaching ninth grade because it is such a crucial year for students both academically and personally,” she says. “It is a huge transition and a huge year of growth, so it feels like there is more of an opportunity to have an impact in those kind of vulnerable moments.” The ninth grade experience is largely based on the first impressions and lessons explored in the first months of high school. This highlights the larger importance of Brubaker’s job. “Ninth graders are really figuring out how to be students, not just how to write or analyze literature,” she says. “You are not only teaching your content, you are teaching study skills, how to talk to a teacher, and how to make it so that your social life doesn’t interfere with you paying attention in class,” and these are crucial life skills that shape the kind of person that can succeed not only in a high school environment but the world as a whole.
12:15 pm: After a busy morning, Goldberg heads downstairs to lunch where he socializes with his friends. At lunch, there is not a lot of cross-grade interaction. One reason for this is that naturally, each grade has claimed their “spot” in the school: twelfth grade in the library, eleventh grade on the benches outside of the cafeteria, and tenth grade in the cafeteria. “The most intimidating factor about another grade is probably walking on certain floors, there are groups of eleventh or twelfth graders that block the hallway, so walking through that could be intimidating,” Goldberg says. Although it has only been a few weeks, the ninth grade has already claimed their spot: the student center. “A lot of people go there to socialize, do homework, or play Wii,” Goldberg says. For Goldberg, it is a little less daunting to go up to upperclassmen and strike up conversations since he had a sister in the school last year, but for others, these “spots” can be somewhat unpleasant to walk through or even make them feel excluded and intimidated. “Although I wouldn’t call myself intimidated, I feel like whatever they are doing we are not really comfortable doing yet and we don’t know if we have the same rules,” he says.
1:10 pm: After lunch, Goldberg heads back upstairs for French with Adele Pelz. Language classes in the high school have notoriously been a hard adjustment for incoming freshman. “I’ve heard that Adele is strict but she hasn’t been like that yet with us,” Goldberg says. “Like History, I have learned more French in a month of high school than in most of middle school.” Because the middle school is a slightly more nurturing environment, students who have trouble in any class don’t really need to dedicate time outside of class to meet with teachers and improve on a certain skill. In high school, it is completely the student’s responsibility to reach out and meet with a teacher if they feel like they need extra support. This is only one example of the newfound independence in the high school that is almost nonexistent for most middle schoolers.
2:20 pm: Goldberg’s school day is concluded with X-block, his being study hall. Here, freshmen can get a head start on their homework to better manage their time and keep them from staying up all night perfecting a History essay. “I like how we have breaks in between classes, longer lunch, and X-block because if we plan our time efficiently, we can get some homework done,” Goldberg says.
3:10 pm: Goldberg is now dismissed from school where he either hangs out with some of his friends or goes home to do homework. Although he plays competitive sports outside of school, he decided not to try out for a school team so that he can focus on his school work for the first trimester. Former Ninth-grade Dean Brubaker says it is common for ninth-grade students to change how they approach their academics in comparison to middle school. “I think the great thing about being a ninth grader is having an opportunity for reinvention–the ability to start over in various different ways,” Brubaker says. Because the workload is one of the most substantial changes in the transition from middle school to high school, students find that time management can be the biggest challenge.
The freshman experience is full of ups and downs, but ultimately is a key component of shaping the student and person that will be released into the world in four years’ time. Junior Justin Blades says: “I wouldn’t change anything about freshman year because I feel like it gave me a strong platform as a student to really grow and strive.”