Where would we be without middle school? It is a clean line dividing elementary life and high school, a place to discover ourselves. What kind of people now exist without this crucial life checkpoint? Let’s try to delve into the minds of the class of 2025 and try to help solve this enigma. 

We start by scooching into a table of freshmen. The questioning begins. The overwhelming consensus was that not going to middle school was a positive. The bullying associated with middle school leads Shane Montecalvo, a current freshman, to say “skipping out changed a lot” but he feels he “got lucky.” On the other hand, “It’s hard to think how I would’ve been, feel like I missed out,” Charlie Meidlinger, also a freshman, said. He wishes he could’ve gotten to attend events like school dances and performances. 

The lack of bullying seems to lead to greater self expression amongst the youngest of our school. Bold fashion moves and louder personalities seem to be prevalent among freshmen.

Although, when interrogating them about their unique and alternative styles, there was no correlation between skipping out on middle school and how they present themselves, “They are just like this,” Shane explains. 

Online learning hasn’t seemed to chip away at SLHS students’ social skills and even broadened their circles. “Not being able to go into school kinda forced me to spread out and socialize with more people,” freshman Kaede Cook notes, “I have become a lot more social and talkative which is great. I used to be pretty shy and did not know how to stick up for myself.”

Unfortunately, web based education has come with some downsides. “I felt myself not grasping a lot of our lessons in class”, Cook goes on to tell me. When asked about missing some of the high school prep involved in middle school and if she finds herself not knowing what they expect her to have already learned,” she says “This has happened a few time already in geometry” fortunately she continues with “but it’s not to bad because i have been able to catch up.” Hopefully that can be said with the rest of her peers.

A must for most going into high school is sports. “Sports is a way out of all this Covid stuff and is a time to be yourself.” Brennan McCulloch, discloses. He tells me the process of getting into teams hasn’t changed, he’s managed to wrestle, play soccer, and ultimate frisbee. 

“I don’t think sports have been affected too much,” Niko Lepsch says, “I play field hockey, which is an outdoor sport, so we’re not required to wear masks while practicing, the only major effect is when games get canceled because there’s been an exposure on one of the teams.”

Stemming out of a separate conversation, another freshman, Tomas Bocock, concurred he was just happy to spend that time playing video games.

All the dust is settled and it’s clear to see that these young Seahawks are able to handle whatever life has thrown at them so far and they will end up just fine despite the lack of middle school experience.