Transitioning To High School

By: Elizabeth

As the class of 2026 is transitioning to highschool, we all need to remember one thing: the world we know right now is about to explode right before our eyes.

The transition from middle school to high school is often known as one of the biggest, and most academically challenging, transitions that you will experience during your public school career. The following quote comes from an article written by Frontiers Media, “Around two in five students fail to reach their expected progress following the transition to secondary education (Galton et al., 1999), with around 40% of students making no progress in English and reading (42 and 38%, respectively) and 34% making no progress in maths”. One of the reasons that teens would be challenged academically during this time is due to high levels of anxiety and stress. This can be seen in the same article as it states, “Children report additional concerns during this time, including fear of bullies, being lost, peer relationship worries, and anxiety over coping with an increased workload” (Zeedyk et al., 2003). Additionally, the transition to secondary education can directly impact educational attainment, “...with a reported interruption in students’ academic growth during the transition year” (Akos et al., 2015).

To summarize, the next few months of our lives may become hectic. However, we will all eventually find our way through the maze and leave the high school with fond memories, and in the wise words of Jo Collins, “30 years from now it won’t matter what shoes you wore, how your hair looked, or the jeans you bought. What will matter is what you learned and how you used it”.

Sources: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01482/full#:~:text=Results%20indicated%20that%2C%20compared%20to,of%20stress%20and%20depressive%20symptoms.