6th Grade Beginnings

by Noa Berson  

I recently started 6th grade at The Science Academy, and it was definitely overwhelming. Where do I go? What will my teachers be like? Who do I sit with?  I felt like I would never get a handle on how things work, and it seemed like almost no one else felt the way I did. However, I wondered whether that was actually true, so I sent out a survey to my fellow sixth graders about their experiences of their first days of middle school. The responses were quite interesting, and it turned out that almost everyone who replied felt similarly to how I had. I really enjoyed learning what people thought, and I hope you will too. Even if you are not a sixth grader, maybe it will help you remember your first days at The Science Academy!

I began the survey by asking “How did you feel on your first day of 6th grade?” I gave choices like “worried,” “calm and happy,” and “terrified.” The response that most people chose was “nervous but excited," which was chosen by a slight majority of 52.9%. The least by far was “terrified”, which I was glad to see was chosen by a mere 5.9%. 

How did you feel on your first day of 6th grade? Check all that apply.

Worried: 17.6%

Excited: 41.2%

Nervous but excited: 52.9%

Terrified: 5.9%

Meh: 35.3%

Calm and happy: 35.3%

Other: 23.6% 

For the option “Other,” the responses included “grandiloquent,” “mad that I’ll have to go to school for another 150 or so more days,” and “sad that the easy part of my life is over”

The second question asked, “What thoughts ran through your head when you got to school?”  A lot of the responses were similar to what I thought, which was “WHERE IN THE WORLD DO I GO?” One was “Am I going to survive the first day of middle school?” which I can definitely relate to. Another a pretty funny one was “I wanna sleep.”

The next question had all the same answers as the first one, except that the question was changed to “How do you feel now, at the end of the first week?” The responses definitely changed. A lot. By the end of the first week, the response that had been chosen by the most people was “calm and happy”, chosen by an incredible 58.8%. And the lowest were “worried” “nevous/excited” and "terrified," none of which were chosen by the respondents. 

How do you feel now, after the first week?

Worried: 0%

Excited: 29.4%

Nervous but excited: 0%

Terrified: 0%

Meh: 47.1%

Calm and happy: 58.8% 

Other: 23.6%

For the last question, I asked whether anyone had something they wanted to add. One comment that I think high schoolers and older middle schoolers would appreciate is: “High schoolers and older kids were not that mean. They have helped new kids in the sixth grade.” I liked this response because I also appreciated how the older students helped us get around campus on our first day. Another nice one was “I love my teachers and I am really happy that my teachers are caring and supportive and easy going. I am ready for the rest of the year and would love to stay for high school.” There were some others about staff members and other kids, like “I am grateful for all the helpful staff and classmates.” All in all, most comments were positive, such as “I’ve really enjoyed school so far.” 

It was interesting compiling this article because you can really see a trend in the responses. On the first day, as a sixth grader, you are filled with nervousness, excitement, and even a bit of terror, but as the weeks progress, you start feeling calmer and less fearful. There may be a bit of worry, but mostly, you feel like you fit in. As one student shared, “It was very scary to me at first, but after a few days it felt like light work.” Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey, and to everyone else, thank you for reading my article! Let’s have a great school year!