Friday, Jan. 25, eighth-grade students from RBHS’ feeder schools, Jefferson Middle School (JMS) and Gentry Middle School (GMS), toured their new high school building. The final stop was the Club Fair, held in the main gym. Here, students learned about offered classes and extracurriculars. The transition into a larger school brings multiple opportunities, with class selections, Authorized Unassigned Time (AUT) and more lunch privileges. GMS social studies teacher Justin Carter said his favorite part about RBHS is the ability for every student to find something to do.
“The number of clubs available, the number of options that students can take for classes, the career center; I feel like everyone can find their niche at RB,” Carter said. “That’s something I really try to emphasize to my students.”
With many clubs and different teacher sponsors, students are often the best spokespeople for the firsthand experiences of RBHS’ opportunities. From classes such as photography to biological medicine, the eighth graders will have a wide variety of choices to make when selecting future classes.
Sophomore Grayson Barnes had a booth available for the various businesses classes and believes eighth-grade visits are a unique opportunity for students to gain a better focus on what they want to pursue in their academic career.
“We are talking to them about business classes in general. I’ve taken business principles, so that’s what I am focusing on talking about,” Barnes said. “I was at a private school before I came and there wasn’t a ton of extra electives that you could take that went specifically towards what you were wanting to do, and that drew me to RB.”
Students like GMS eighth grader Stephen Gibson are nervous but excited to take on the various challenges of being in high school, such as finding personal interests, passions and how to pursue them
“The size of the school and the amount of classes you can take are appealing,” Gibson said, “I feel like my interests will change since I’ll take some classes and maybe not like them as much as I was expecting.”
To Carter, he believes many students get “wide-eyed” with their transition to the new school. Carter said the maturity between a freshman and an eighth grader is drastically different.
“Whether it’s how many people are in the hallway or how big the school is, I think a lot of them are just trying to soak it all in,” Carter said. “You’re always going to have those freshmen who run down the hallway and smack the exit signs or chase each other, but they usually learn pretty fast that, that’s not the best course of action.”
Snowy • Feb 3, 2019 at 4:03 pm
I thought it was a neat experience when our class came here. Pretty cool that we can do something like this!
Karina • Feb 1, 2019 at 4:45 pm
The Club Fair that occurred this year sounds really cool. My 8th-grade class never got to experience a club fair which is regretful. I could have learned more about the clubs at RB if this was offered earlier!
Karina • Jan 31, 2019 at 9:15 pm
The Club Fair that occurred this year sounds really cool. My 8th-grade class never got to experience a club fair which is regretful. I could have learned more about the clubs at Rock Bridge if it were offered earlier!
Alma Jarbou • Jan 31, 2019 at 3:12 pm
I remember when I did this (last year), and the club fair actually really helped with choosing classes and clubs for next year!
Ethan • Jan 31, 2019 at 12:54 pm
i think this is a great opportunity for eighth graders to figure out RBHS a little bit. i enjoyed it a lot when i was able to participate in this when i was working on my way to RBHS. i like the feel of this piece a lot good job!!!