As this school year comes to a close, I am beginning to look back and reflect on my middle school experiences. On June 17th, I will graduate middle school and move on, leaving that part of my life behind.
Middle school is a confusing part of your life, as you go through some major changes in these years and evolve into who you really are. You will go through these changes on both a mental and physical level, so you may leave the school a totally different person.
First of all, you should become involved in a lot of school activities. Being involved helps a lot of things: your social life, making friends, and learning to manage your life. There are clubs, sports, groups, and the infamous student council you can join. Playing sports in middle school will help you decide which sports you would like to play in high school and will get high school coaches interested in you for sports. For example, I started weightlifting for football and wrestling next year. Being involved in clubs can teach you new things and gives you something to do.
Keeping your grades up is tricky in middle school. As you begin to get more involved, your time you have for homework will decrease, so don’t overschedule yourself, as you will see a drop in grades. Also, your work will get harder and teachers will grade differently. You will be graded for accuracy and completion, but much more strictly than before. Teachers will not accept semi-accurate answers and they will not give points just for doing the work. Also, classes will get harder and you will be offered higher level courses like algebra and foreign languages (Spanish or French, generally). I advise you take these offers if you are capable.
Your social life will also change. You will begin to start dating, going to places with friends, parties, etc. You will start doing more mixed gender activities and hanging out in groups. There will be less “play-dates” with a single friend and more grroups of kids hanging out and going places, like the movies, the mall, theme parks, and… skiing? Yes, I have gone skiing with friends.
Middle school is a fun but confusing portion of your life where you will begin to transform into a teenager and from there into an adult, so don’t squander it.