Middle school is hard.
However, by the time they’ve reached the end of 8th grade, students have it mostly figured out.
And then, BOOM! High school.
Transitioning to high school from middle school feels like climbing a mountain. In 8th grade, you’re the “established” class – you’ve been there for more than two years and you’ve definitely matured since 6th grade.
Starting high school as a freshman? Back to the bottom of the hierarchy.
This year, our administrators and teachers from PHS and PCMS took a different approach to introducing our incoming freshman class to the high school. Wednesday, March 4th was SAT day, and while our Juniors took their SATs and our 9th, 10th and 12th graders were job shadowing in the community, our entire 8th grade class came to PHS for our very first Red Pride Preview Day.
Historically, we’ve had preview days for our incoming freshman class over the summer. However, there’s not always a guarantee that all students will be able to attend, and there were definite improvements that could be made.
Red Pride Preview Day aimed to get our 8th graders excited about moving to Plainfield High School.
Students were brought to PHS and ushered to the auditorium where they met Mr. Schwanekamp, PHS principal, and the rest of the administration. He walked them through the expectations of students in high school, gave a breakdown of what their day would entail, and showed some videos put together by other students that showcased some of the incredible things happening daily at PHS.
Students then got to eat lunch in the high school cafeteria, which turned out to be most student’s favorite part of the day. (If you know an 8th grader, ask them – they’ll back this up.)
Next up was our extra-curricular fair. Students were given 25 minutes to walk around to tables that represented each of our athletic teams, along with all of our clubs and extracurricular activities available to students. They could introduce themselves, see what that activity was all about, and start to get an idea of what they’d like to be involved in at PHS.
Once that concluded, high school leaders took smaller groups of students on a tour of our newly renovated spaces. From the Mega Lab to the Engineering Suite, the choir and band rooms to the Quaker Center, students were given the opportunity to begin to familiarize themselves with the layout of PHS.
Their last stop was a conversation and Q & A session with the high school guidance counselors, as they learned about the options available to them with their schedule, independent summer school options, and more.
We hope that Red Pride Preview Day was helpful to our incoming freshmen as they start to think about their future at PHS – and beyond.