The transition from middle school to high school can be challenging, but many eighth graders look forward to choosing their classes and scheduling themselves. Most students couldn’t wait to look through all of their possible classes, plan schedules with friends, or just get an idea for what their first year of high school will look like. It is important to make this big transition as smooth as possible for students, but unfortunately, this year’s scheduling process was not smooth for the students.

All eighth-grade students were called down to the auditorium on Wednesday, March 4, to get their high school scheduling forms, but the paper had very little information about what the classes even taught. While students were informed about the core classes available to them, no information was provided on the electives. Students didn’t know the differences between each elective, what the classes taught, how many years you could take the class, or how many credits the class provided.  Many of the students’ questions were left unanswered, so lots of students got confused quickly. 

Another issue was the course catalog. During the meeting, students were told to refer to the course catalog on the Freedom School District website. However, the catalog was outdated by two years, presenting the 2024-2025 catalog. New classes weren’t listed, leading to big confusion amongst those who needed some help with scheduling. Eventually, the website was updated to the current catalog, but it was updated on the day the scheduling forms were due, so no student had access to the real catalog before it was too late. This caused many issues because none of the students were able to refer to the course catalog for answers to their questions. 

Overall, this year’s transition was not the smoothest. Between the course catalog catastrophe and the fact that the meeting gave very limited information, many eighth graders were left with unanswered questions and a very confusing mindset of what high school will be like for years to come. It is hoped that the eighth grade will get answers to some of those questions during high school orientation in the fall.