As part of our efforts to catch up with our first 8th grade graduating class at GIS, I connected with Laura. I wanted to sit down with her to learn how well GIS prepared her for the rigors of high school. Does she feel academically prepared? Was it hard to move from such a small school to a big high school? Laura is a freshman at Lincoln High School, which has about 1,300 students. She’s one of our first 8th grade graduates, and I was curious how well she felt GIS prepared her.
Laura described her first days at Lincoln as a little crazy because there were so many more people. Just getting to class was harder,—navigating all that space and people. Even just the grounds and the building were so much bigger! But Laura handled it pretty well. She had gone to a big school before she came to GIS, so she remembered what it was like, and she says it can be kind of fun.
Academically, Laura said she finds Lincoln easier than GIS, where she feels the teaching “is at a higher level.” Her classes at GIS trusted her with independence, a perk of being in a small school, but she also learned to work on teams. So far, Laura says high school is maybe too easy. Her advice is to pay attention to the little details when you’re in high school, because you need them to excel. In French, if you forget an ending, you get marked down, and it’s like that for everything. So academics for Laura feel very comfortable. She’s thriving, in fact.
Socially, it was harder at first. At GIS she could be with everyone, and at Lincoln there are so many more people to talk to and figure out how to fit in with. One day she was sitting alone at lunch when someone came up and asked to sit with her. They’re friends now. Classes have helped, too. Seating is random, so she gets mixed in with different people and has to talk to them, and it’s easier because you have the subject to talk about. She’s also in a book club, where she and the other members talk about books they’ve read, and she plans to do track in the spring. So that’s how she’s managed the transition to a larger school and figured out how to connect with people and find her way.
Her advice to current 8th graders is not to be scared of high school. It’s easier than you think, and it’s easier to do things in general, including meeting people. Everyone is in the same place, so you go with the flow. Laura says, “In a lot of ways it’s the same as GIS, just a lot bigger!”
As she thought about the advice she wanted to give, she’d also encourage students to study abroad. In Laura’s experience, academics in Germany were harder than in the US, and she says you learn so much more about the culture, the people, and the food when you are studying abroad!
In all, Laura is crushing high school. We’re not surprised. We miss having you around each day and we’re excited to hear more about your school year!
