Miles Files: Mixed feelings about moving on Miles Files: Mixed feelings about moving on (June 15, 2005)

By Miles McMullin

8th-grader, St. Joseph's

At the end of a school year, most kids are happy to move on to the next grade.

For eighth-graders, however, it is different.

Maggie Campbell, an eighth-grader at St. Joseph's School, says she's both excited about going to high school and meeting new people, and "sad because I will be leaving a school that I have gone to for 11 years (including kindergarten and preschool)."

Jack Duane, another eighth-grader at St. Joseph's, says he, too, is "sad to leave my friends from middle school, but I'm excited for the new opportunity that high school presents, such as tackle football."

I'm eager to move on to Menlo-Atherton High School, where there will be all new kids and much more freedom.

I know kids love M-A, and although my freshman class is about 10 times as big as my eighth-grade class, I look forward to the new experiences and opportunities a school the size of M-A can offer.

As I reviewed the classes, clubs and sports at M-A, I was amazed at how many choices students have. In sports, there is lacrosse, cross country, golf, water polo, badminton, wrestling. In clubs, there is robotics, debate, Italian, quiz kids, and on and on.

High school just offers so much.

Now that the time has come for my friends and me to move on, we are dealing with our mixed feelings.

My strongest feeling, though, is my desire to move to my new school. Saying I'm in the ninth grade at Menlo-Atherton High School will take some getting used to. But I am ready!

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