-Life at McKinley may actually be pretty similar to North Star. Sure, the rules are different, but the students themselves aren’t.  The reason there’s conflict between the two is because no one really knows what’s going on at the other school. 

Often, there’s obvious tension between North Star students and McKinley students, where both schools don’t like each other. However, some 8th graders think differently. 

Abby V. said that NSA students are pretty cool. “I don’t know why we have fights,” she said. 

Britenee E., in 8th grade, said, “Last year I would talk to them a lot. They seemed really nice.” It may seem uncommon for McKinley and NSA to get along, but maybe we have more in common than we thought. “They were really nice and other people just see them different,” Britenee said. NSA students have to take a test to get into the school, which is different from McKinley, and it might alter their view of NSA. 

Let’s look at the do and don’t likes at McKinley next. Some 8th graders said that what they didn’t like about McKinley was the strict rules, like Pedro H. said about hallway and stair rules, “There’s one side to go up and one side to go down but everyone does the opposite.” Confusing, strict and broken, these rules don’t really help the students, though we can understand why they were established once we hear that a kid was punched in a stair stampede. Pedro added that he also didn’t like the bullying that happens sometimes. 

Britenee E. and Abby V., other 8th graders also thought the rules were a bit tight. Britenee said that, “We come in really early. Last year we came in at 8:40, but this year we’re coming in at 7:55”, while Abby explains that the rules go over the line sometimes, with their dress code of no plain red and blue shirts, no pajama pants and no showing shoulders. She also thinks the phone rules could be changed, as they are taken away if used during school hours and need to be picked up by parents.

In contrast, there are also many things McKinley kids like about their school. “The teachers are nice,” said Abby, and her favorite thing in school? The whole thing! Coming to school, being in a classroom.. She loves it all. Meanwhile, Pedro says that one of the good experiences at Mckinley is Halloween because they go to dress up in costumes and Britenee explains that, “I think the assemblies are fun because we’re always cheering the people who come to see us.” Britenee also finds that “The teachers are really nice and you can be open with them sometimes.” All in all McKinley is a big home for grades sixth through eighth and we think 8th graders will definitely be sad to leave it so soon.

8th graders are starting to look into schools to go to when they graduate. There are many options to choose from however based on the interviews it looks like a lot of students are planning on going to Sequoia High School. 

Abby V. states “ It’s really close and I have a few relatives who have gone there before,” 

Pedro H. also says, “ Sequoia, because my sister went [there],”

Multiple people also have a dream college they are looking forward to going to. 

For example, Britenee said “Maybe UCLA or Columbus University.” Britenee also mentioned that for high school, she would want to go to Sequoia. “Sequoia, because I think it has a big campus and lot of the people I socialize with [will be going there].”

However if you’re like Pedro H., who said, “I don’t really have a dream college,” you might not have thought about it yet.