As I leave my journalism class, I spot a familiar face: Mr. Wagensteen, my former 8th Grade Social Studies teacher. I  give him a puzzled look. What are you doing here? Well, he’s here for the annual 8th-grade tour, not as a student, as he’s a little old for that, but as a supervisor for these sneaky 8th-graders waddling around the high school, trying to comfort the ones with their head down, not ready for next year.

All grades wonder why these kids are precisely coming around, looking into our classrooms, and seeing what we are doing in those classes. Well, they are figuring out exactly where these rooms are so they can be better prepared for coming into high school and finding out where to go for their classes next year. 8th-grade students are sometimes very sneaky and excited to see what the high school is about; others are scared. With all of these 8th graders coming in, the school gets a little crowded and hard to move around, but upperclassmen are used to it because they know their way around. The 8th-grade tour is a day to show the upper-level students and the new students what to expect for the following year. “School isn’t about the intelligence you have; it’s about the effort you put in,” Mr. Wangensteen said

Many kids coming from middle school weren’t ready for the move, but one girl was. Janessa Ellanson, a former 8th grader now a freshman. Janessa already knew her way around the high school pretty well from helping students direct plays for the middle school that was happening in the high school, so she understood the building and knew her way around. She doesn’t have a favorite class, but if you ask her which one she enjoys, she would say reading foundations. Janessa never got an 8th-grade tour but wishes she did so she could have had a day off of school. “My  first year of high school was nonsense,” Janessa said