It’s a diverse wave of excitement and responsibility for the sixth graders, previously fifth graders, who will now have big expectations to fill as well as more things to do. Some students have shown excitement and joy towards moving up, while others are intimidated by the homework and tolerance levels of the Middle School. It is a big step moving up to middle school, therefore these students will have to take a big step in their maturity, patience, work ethic, and leadership skills. 

     The sixth graders have talked about how their first experiences were explaining how they plan to strive this year. Sixth grader Naila Siddiq remarked, “believe in yourself and have courage.” It is absolutely necessary that these students can strive with their new expectations- they can use this to learn and grow, or they can choose to slack off at the expense of their grades which can make everything much more difficult in their near future. Sixth grader Violet Montijo noted that it is important to “treat others the way you want to be treated,” showing that respect and kindness are essential in Middle School.

     The sixth graders’ new responsibilities are what they are looking forward to and paradoxically  what they are not looking forward to. They have responsibilities such as getting from class to class, which makes it nice to have the freedom of walking and talking to your friends at your own pace while not being followed around by a teacher. This is just one of the amazing parts of middle school, but they also will realize they themselves will be responsible for knowing where all their classes are and when and where they must be. Sixth grader Ayaan Khan said, “In middle school, you have a lot of responsibility, and it is important to uphold that.” Responsibility is put on students’ shoulders, but if they are not responsible, it can be taken away with things such as citizenship probation, which makes it impossible to participate in many fun activities. This also affects how they might get into the upper school or other high schools! They also will know that if they cannot get to the right class at the right time, it will most likely result in a green slip or detention, which is another thing to look out for. 

      The sixth graders will have to adjust to the new way of school with more work, freedom, and responsibility. They can use this excellent opportunity to learn something new they can use in the future, or they can let this opportunity slip between their fingers all for five minutes of relaxation and worry, but what they do not know is that you cannot relax knowing you have homework due tomorrow. You can only relax knowing it’s out of the way and you will not have to deal with it anymore. It is important to note that because this is an opportunity to be successful. We wish them best of luck and hope they have a great school year ahead of them and we hope that they have a great fun and exciting school year and can succeed here at the Benjamin Middle School in the best possible ways through joy and hard work.