The transition from elementary to high school. Oh, the good old days, where stress wasn’t even a thing! When I was in middle school, I thought of high school as the movies. I thought there would be a group of people going around and picking on students. That made me nervous and I felt that high school might be a disaster for me. For some of us, this was a big step for them since they were transferring to a whole different school.
Fahad reflects on his high school experience and how he was pressured in the past to do things that he knew were wrong. But when developing a “moral compass†at this age, many students don’t realize it and don’t choose to do the right thing. Similarly, Ronaldo Matti talks about how he was also pressured into doing a lot of bad things but made the choice of not giving into peer pressure. He tells us that in middle school you can do lots of things that you would typically get in trouble for in high school, but in middle school, you can get away with it easily.
Andrew Kenealy has been a high school counselor for about 14 years at Von Steuben High School. He explains that students are getting less sleep in high school compared to middle school because of more work or other activities like streaming on devices. He has a son who is going to high school next year, and claims that he is addicted to his phone just like other students. According to Daisy Rogazansky, “Ultimately, however, it’s an exciting time that offers new, fun opportunities and experiences.†Have you ever stopped for a second and just visited the memories you had in high school or middle school? Have you ever thought about which one you enjoyed the most?
Mildsauce invited four young journalists to reflect on the theme “Growing Upâ€. Click here to check out more stories in our Growing Up issue. For more podcasts, check out our Podcasts archive.