The new school year has brought in many freshmen from different middle schools who have different but similar viewpoints on their transition to Manual and how they are getting used to this new environment. Let’s see how our freshmen are doing.

Transition

Some students feel that going to Manual from middle school is a very big transition and the rules are very different from what they are used to. The dress code is more lenient than other middle schools.

“As a freshman, I agree with a lot of other people, it’s a very big transition cause in middle school it feels like they are trying to prepare us for high school, but it didn’t always work, especially with social interactions and dress code. Where I went to middle school, the dress code very confined and conservative and know that I am a rather unconservative high school,” Catherine Holder (9,VA) said. “I feel like a lot of things are different and it almost like a shock mentally and socially just because everybody is going through the same thing and not everybody has the same homework or the same goal, it’s basically just to graduate and make it through without having too many mental breakdowns.”

Schedule

Since middle school is very different from high school, freshmen are still getting accustomed to how Manual’s schedule is. In JCPS schools the normal schedule would be 6 blocks each for about an hour. At Manual, the schedule is 8 blocks, 4 on each day and each an hour and a half long.

“Since the third grade I have wanted to go here and now I am here, it’s awesome.  I love YPAS, but I guess the biggest struggle to me is getting used to having four classes each day and having eight classes in total,” Logan Edwards (9, YPAS) said. “You get something on Monday and it’s due Wednesday and it’s definitely an adjustment.”

Homework

“So I believe that as a freshman, there is a big transition from middle school to high school with homework especially,” Christian (9, HSU) said. “Coming to Manual, it’s a big transition, it is weird to just come in on our first day and get so much homework.”

Homework in middle school is different from homework at Manual. Students can get a pretty big homework load even in the first week, and it continues throughout the year. The workload has been a struggle for many freshmen already.

“I think that so far Manual is great, but there is a lot of homework that I have had a hard time getting used to because at my middle school, we had maybe an hour and a half of homework,” Elizabeth Havey (9, J&C) said. “I also have volleyball mostly every day and so now I have three or four hours of homework every night.”  

Teachers

Because these freshmen are not accustomed to Manual yet, the transition from middle to high school isn’t going to be easy. However, Manual teachers can help to make the transition a bit smoother, at least for the first few weeks.

“The teachers have been very supportive of our transition cause they understand that in middle school we might not have gotten as much workload, but in high school we get more,” Josh (9, MST) said.

Featured Image by Ofelia Mattingly.