Graduation from Elementary to Middle school is a shared experience among students. This transition means moving up in student’s educational journey, and some students are currently undergoing the challenges that come with this experience.

Over the summer, students prepare for that first day of school, the day when students meet their teachers, classmates, other sixth graders, and are introduced to an entirely new school. The first few steps into that school are a key component of a student’s new school experience.

“I thought [the school] was really big, to be honest with you. The teachers were good, they were really helpful, but I knew I would be okay,” sixth grader Laila Cartagena said.

Changing schools can be an intimidating experience, especially for sixth graders going into a school full of high schoolers. With all the new changes going on, along comes new opportunities in the form of extracurricular classes.

“What I like about the school is how they have a lot of classes. I like how they have band, and they include Spanish. What I miss about the lower school is how they had a lot of events, and I don’t really think they have a lot of events here,” sixth grader Avalia Jones said.

Sixth-grade students are getting to know and adjust to FCUS, but some students are reminiscing about their previous schools. Seventh grader Maxwell Nichter came from Plantation Oaks elementary in Clay County, Florida.

“At the beginning of my sixth-grade year in first period science, my class was working on a ‘get-to-know-each-other’ assignment, and I noticed that there was a lizard in the corner of the room, and I pointed this out to the class, who became interested in capturing it. After the chaos of the whole situation subsided, someone eventually caught the lizard and let it free in the hallways,” Nichter said.

As elementary school becomes a memory of the past for incoming sixth graders, students look forwards to making fond new memories with their peers.

“One of the memories I made at FCUS was in gym class we played this game of dodgeball, and the court was cut in half, I was on the team with my friends. We won the first match, which the other team had to do push-ups because they lost, and then we lost the second one, but then the third match, one kid kept catching the balls and throwing them back, so we still had won in the end,” Nichter said.

A lot of students such as sixth grader Keria Conway share a mixture of emotions when it comes to switching from school to school.

“I was kind of nervous, but also excited at the same time. It’s okay if you’re nervous, but once you get used to it, you know what it’s like to have bigger kids walking across the hallways,” Conway said.

While the transition my be new and stressful for some sixth grade students, sixth grader Ava Fuller believes that everything will work out just fine.

“I’d say that it’s going to take a little bit of time to get used to, but I know it’s going to be fun and that I’m going to get through the year,” Fuller said.