As one of the seven graduating eighth graders from the Salida Montessori Charter School, I have personally experienced the challenging transition into the Salida High School. The transition into High School can be a big change for anyone, but coming from a small charter school to a public school is especially different. 

An obvious difference is the size of the Salida High School compared to the Montessori schools and the amount of students. At the Montessori, there were only around 200 students at the school and each grade had approximately ten students, while at the high school there are over 400 students and about 100 people in each grade. I have found that the amount of people is not as overwhelming as I expected. I enjoy getting to be more immersed in different ideas, types of people and cultures that come with having more students. Although, I have found it hard to be able to get to know everyone and be well immersed in the community.

Getting involved in anything, even if it is during school hours or just joining a class like Tenderfoot Times where you are contributing to the school and meeting new people, makes a big difference in getting to know more people. Principal Hull said, “ There are three main things that you need to do in order to have a successful High School experience: get involved, complete your work and ask questions.”

Another difference is that, in the Montessori school, each grade level is typically in a class with two other grade levels in addition to their own. This means that most of the students have friends in the grades either above or below them as well as in their own grade. Having such a small community last year has made it so I don’t know many other people at the High School, and I still have many close friends still at the Montessori school. 

A variation in the Montessori school system from the Salida High School, is having grades. At the Montessori school they base their grading on constructive criticism and hand written progress reports, while at the High School there is a traditional grading system. For me, this change has been more stressful than I had expected, especially for test taking. When taking a test at the High School it can affect my entire grade as opposed to just giving the teachers a gauge of where I am academically in a subject and what I need to work on. Although this makes me feel more nervous to take tests I have felt that I am now getting better at studying and have gained confidence in test taking skills.

The adaptation from Montessori to High School has been overwhelming for me. Since the community and school in general is so much larger than my previous school it has been a challenge to connect with other people because there are so many different social groups as opposed to having basically the whole class as friends. Although there are systems that I have been continuing to learn and get used to, I have felt so much welcoming energy and the teachers have been  very helpful. All of the staff are super kind, helpful, understanding and have been very enthusiastic about me joining the school.

From my experience, the transition into High School from the Montessori school was not as hard as I had expected. The Montessori curriculum has more than prepared me for my time in High School. Not only in the sense that I feel confident in my ability to get work done and achieve good grades, but also to be ready for change and the new experiences that come with it.