Fresh Faces, Fresh Feelings

Allie Bernstein, '27

This school year, 129 freshmen joined The Ensworth High School community. These freshmen are in the midst of a pivotal transition in their life: middle school to high school. When students leave their old community, whether they were previous Red Gables students or came from an entirely different school, they all have to deal with their own struggles and triumphs. High school comes with a whole new set of concepts and challenges for freshmen. These new students need to learn to juggle forming relationships with each other and upperclassmen, making a good impression with their teachers, and applying themselves academically, as ninth grade is the first set of grades that colleges consider. I sent out a survey to the class of 2028 to further understand their thoughts about starting high school.

How would you rate your first week of high school, on a scale of 1-10? 

A majority of 38% of freshmen responded with an 8/10, indicating that their week hasn’t been completely perfect, but certainly has gone well. Coming in second, 30% of freshmen selected 9/10 as their rating of their first week in high school. The other remaining responses varied from people selecting 5, 6, and 7 out of 10. For the most part, it seems freshmen are viewing their first week as an overall positive experience. This idea is further supported by 80% of freshmen choosing the answer ‘positive’ to my next question.

Would you describe this back to school season as a more positive or negative start to the school year? 

18% chose to respond with not significantly positive or negative, and only 2% responded with negative. Given these statistics, it would be assumed that all other questions would be answered with the same optimistic perspective, but surprisingly that wasn’t the case.

Do you feel connected to the other grades? 

Only 30% of freshmen responded with, ‘Yes, I have many friends in the grades above me.’ 50% said, ‘I feel somewhat connected to the grades above me, but I could be more connected.’The rest said, ‘I have limited connection to the grades above me, and rarely ever interact with upperclassmen.’ Ensworth has many opportunities for inter-grade mixing, through tiger houses, integrated classes, extracurriculars, and more. It’s interesting to consider why there is a lack of connection between the freshmen class and the other grades in the high school. Some freshmen gave written responses saying, “a good amount of upper class-men don't like freshmen, especially sophomores” and “all of the upperclassmen are huge, so it makes getting through crowds (e.g. the lunch line or snack) much harder. It's also just very intimidating.” One response when talking about freshmen’s relationship with upperclassmen stood out the most: “It seems like all grades look down and underestimate us.” Overall, it seems like the freshmen class want to be recognized as capable and mature to those in the grades above them.

After reviewing the responses the freshmen submitted to the survey, one conclusion is apparent: Freshmen need to become more comfortable with not just one another, but with the workload, teachers, and upperclassmen. This is an obviously huge transition for them, and the adjustment to what their new ‘normal’ is will take time. Several responses illuminate this idea further.

“I like my classes and teachers, but the schedule is a nightmare.”

“High school is a little more difficult, but I like my classes and teachers a lot.”

“I feel like the teachers are better here than they were at my old school, but the material is probably going to be more difficult. I'm not sure though, because we're only on the first week.” 

Two sophomores, Claire Flury and Adeline Courtney, conclude with this advice. Always make your best effort in school, talk to people, and avoid being closed off to those around you in order to help make the transition to high school easier.