By Ricardo Murray Staff Writer
When students transition from eighth to ninth grade into Loyola High School it’s often hard, but at times very easy and fun. The move from middle school to Loyola High School comes with a lot of new things; new teachers, new friends, new classes, new location, and a lot of new activities.
As a freshman at Loyola, students are faced with many new challenges. First they have to learn a whole new scheduling scheme. Loyola High School has 95-minute class periods, along with time set aside for Morning Prayer.
Aside from the school day, students may get involved in sports and after school activities. As a result, some students don’t make it home until 8 p.m. That means that ninth grade students must also learn time management.
“The biggest challenge is finding time to do homework,” freshman Camron Benford said.
The homework challenge leaves students with two options — make more time for homework at home, or use the mid-day Academic Seminar to their advantage.
Loyola High School recognizes that the change from middle school to high school can be difficult. In response, the school has a summer program that new ninth graders attend that aims to make the transition to high school a little easier.
As for the ninth to tenth grade transition things are a little bit different. These students are already familiar with the nine period day, and time management skills should be in place. For them, the hard part is meeting the requirements of more advanced classes.
As difficult as it may be for some students to complete these two transitions, many students find that they just have to get in the swing of things and find out how everything works. Students can accomplish this by themselves, or get help from the staff and faculty at Loyola High School.
However, sophomore Lavell Johnson said, “The work load is only a challenge if you are lazy.”
Hopefully, of the challenges that students find as they move from grade to grade will also prepare them for the transitions into college and life.
