Sophomore Mia Schuster throws her heavy backpack into the trunk of her white VW Bug and furiously scuffs the ground, wondering how she’ll get to all her homework tonight. With the advanced classes and extracurricular activities she’s taking, her studies have affected her sleep. Last year it was easy for her to finish her homework and kick back to watch her favorite TV shows, such as “Glee” and “Project Runway.” This year, she’s still adjusting to the amount of homework her teachers are giving her.
“It was easy to do well in class before this year,” Schuster said. “I had hardly any homework last year, but this year I can be doing around four to five hours a night. I used to be able to read a lot, but I don’t think I’ve even started a book this school year. It saddens me.”
Conversely, sophomore Olivia Gravel said she was mostly prepared for the high school.
“I feel like the amount of work in the classes prepared me for the high school, but the atmosphere is very different from that of the high school,” she said.
Schuster said the Sheyenne Ninth Grade Center does not differ much from her middle school experiences.
“I don’t feel like I learned that much last year,” Schuster said. “I just didn’t feel pushed and the system was basically the same as middle school.”
Richard Wilson, a math teacher who has taught at both schools, thinks students should be prepared for high school.
“Different aged students are going to be different because their maturity levels are different, but if the student does what they need to do they should be prepared for the high school,” Wilson said.
Sheyenne principal Greg Grooters said there are positive results from having a freshman center.
“We have some advantages here, because of size we can do some things that take away distractions from kids and focus on academics,” Grooters said.
However, Grooters said there are also certain advantages of having everyone in the same building.
“When our freshman go to a class of 560 to a building that has 1,500 to 1,600 kids in it, you know those transitions are tough and that’s the advantage of having ninth through 12th altogether,” Grooters said. “Some of the freshman class could use some role models of 10th through 12th, but for some of them it’s more of a distraction than a positive influence.”
Sheyenne differs from the high school with the students, classes, and environment. Soon, with the split of the schools in the fall of 2015, this will most likely change.
Any experience can change a person’s ability to do well in school.
“It is a transition from going to four periods a day to six or seven periods a day,” Wilson said. “It’s part of just time management, you have to learn how to deal with that on the run, but it’s no different than going from high school to college, it’s a transition that people have to learn more about by experience.”
The upcoming years for freshman students moving to the high school are continually getting better. Grooters and other officials evaluate the program yearly to make sure students do well.
“We’re going to tweak a little bit of our program,” Grooters said. “I think that you’re never set with your program and have it all figured out. We’ll continue to change and keep moving it forward, hopefully.”