Geometry as an 8th grader is almost unheard of at Dobie Junior High, other than me and one
other student named Charles. Until Charles went online, we would both ride a shuttle over to
Steele High School everyday when 3rd period started. Everyday at 10:25 I walk into a class with
nothing but high schoolers. Considering that I sit in the back and don’t talk in class makes it a
little less intimidating to be in a class full of older kids. We take notes, Mrs. Schull assigns us our
homework, then at 11:15, I get back in the car to come back to Dobie.
On my schedule, I’m technically assigned journalism for third period, but because of my crazy schedule, I can only go for attendance. I get back to Dobie around the middle of 4th period.

During the time that I have left before 5th period, I go to Mrs. P.J.’s class and try to get as much journalism work done as possible.

I’m pretty lucky to have an elective 3rd period because I almost never have homework in journalism, and Mrs. P.J.’s assignments are pretty easy to catch onto. I also, conveniently, have journalism during Cougar Time, so I have even more time to work on the laptops that we need for the class. Mrs. P.J. never fails to inform me about what is going on in class, and she makes it as easy as possible for me.

There are pros and cons of leaving campus everyday. On the upside, I can see how Steele is set up, and I kind of get a sneak peak of where everything is in the school. I’m going to be a freshman at Steele next year, so this is very convenient for me personally. But, of course, there are faults too. For example, I am taking an honors, high school course, so there’s a lot more responsibility that comes with it. Because it’s a high school class, I get a bit more homework than I think I would get taking a class at Dobie.

The best thing you can do when in an upper level class to keep your grade up is to keep up with your homework and turn it in on time.
I also kind of get the opportunity of breathing in the high school air before I even actually get
there. On the first day, I was terrified, not only because I was new to the school, but because I
would be taking a class with older kids. I had all of these negative thoughts running through my
head, and I thought all of the students would be silently judging me. After a couple of weeks, I
came to the realization that nobody was paying attention to me as much as I was, and the high
schoolers probably couldn’t care less that a middle schooler was in their class.
The biggest pro of taking double advanced math, however, is that I get my required maths that I need to graduate out of the way faster. This means in my upper-classman years I can take more classes that actually apply to my future and college readiness. For example, instead of taking Pre-Cal or Calculus my senior year, I can take more financial help and career prep courses.

By getting my required courses out of the way faster, I can take that time to prepare myself for the future.  Although it is hard to be on top of my classes all of the time because of my schedule, I’m happy
that I have the opportunity to take higher level classes, and be better prepared for what is to come in the future.