For me, grade 8 was overwhelming. Based on some of the conversations from last week, it seemed like most of you guys weren’t feeling the heat. Some of you mentioned that high school is the same as elementary, just with more classes. Or that the transition to PLP was easy since you had used iPads in Grade 7. Well I guess everyone has a different Grade 8 experience, some find things harder than others.
Here’s a quick list of concerns I had in my first year at Seycove:
1. Lockers (how the heck do they work) I still barely know how to open one.
2. Homework (finding the time to actually do it)
3. Meeting new friends (I had gone to a French immersion school and most of my friends went to Windsor)
Being a PLP student adds a whole new dimension to being in high school. For example, the program generates students from all sorts of elementary schools, far and close to Seycove. Over the years, I’ve grown closer with lots of my friends through PLP.
One place where you’ll bond the most is through field schools. The photo on the right is from our recent PLP 10 trip to DisneyWorld. It was an amazing experience where I got to know lots of my peers better. You guys have your trip to Oregon to look forward to, I’m sure that’ll be a great learning experience. Sadly cause of Covid we weren’t able to go on that trip…
There are some projects that will test you as a PLP learner. One to be mindful of is Destination Imagination, which is a highly demanding project. In this project, you have to solve solutions and work collaboratively as a group. When I did this in grade 8 I was overwhelmed, to say the least. There was a whole bunch of things we had to do, but it seemed to bring the best out of our group. We ended up winning 1st place!
In summary, being a high school student is exciting and you have lots to look forward to! Especially being a PLP learner, there are so many new opportunities and topics to learn about. You have your first-ever field school, new and exciting projects, and a whole new community to be apart of!