Junior High

Making the move to the junior high school was an eye-opening, scary, high pressure experience. All of the kids in town ended up at the junior high together for grades 7-9. So it was a chance to make new friends with kids from all parts of town.

For the first time, I was placed into leveled classes. I was placed into the 'A' group, the smartest group as a result of the 6th grade standardized tests. Very exciting to never have to wait for the challenged kids to catch up. My class could learn as fast as we could go. One did have to rise to the challenge and to do one's absolute best or a fall from grace could occur. I loved the challenges and I found junior high to be a place that I could thrive.

We moved from class to class in junior high, walking down crowded hallways and up and down stairs. The junior high was a monstrous building with a large auditorium with a balcony and a gym for doing athletics indoors. Very different from the neighborhood schools. The older 9th graders, who were excluded from the high school due to the lack of space, picked on the newbie 7th graders and it was a long time before we felt comfortable. It was hard to rush into the girls' bathrooms between classes and not be late for class. We had lockers but most of us had no time to stop between classes and we carried our heavy books from class to class.

Socially, we made new friends within our classes. I kept most of my good friends from elementary school because most of them were in the A group too. I also became friends with students who moved to Adams from out of town and other kids from Renfrew, Commercial Street, Howland Avenue, and Liberty Street Schools. Girls and guys really started to notice each other in the 7th grade and that was a new horizon.