This is a continuation of our Meet Meridian series focusing on our students. We have launched into middle school!

Addy, seventh grader at Meridian Middle School

“I’m in leadership class and we just finished a fundraiser, and it raised a lot of money! We are just starting a new one too where people can send candy grams to each other. My favorite part of leadership is probably the spirit weeks though, pajama day is the best or maybe favorite sports teams’ day. I play basketball and a few other sports. It’s cool here because a lot of the teachers are coaches too or involved somehow outside of school which helps students connect with them. I feel like staff here talk to us a lot and not just about school, they want to know about what other activities you’re interested in and stuff like that.

Health class is my favorite because I really like the teacher, Miss G. I think it’s an interesting subject to learn about and one that you’re going to need in life so it’s nice to learn about that. Our grade missed in-person school for 4th and 5th grade so it’s hard to try and catch up sometimes, especially in reading and math. It definitely helps being back at school, it’s easier in school because you’re more encouraged by everyone. Instead of being at home online you can have your friends and teachers to support you. I like coming to school and seeing Mr. Kratzig because he always has these weird but funny jokes and it’s just great. School is more fun when you have your friends with you, it’s just a better experience.”

Victoria, sixth grader at Meridian Parent Partnership Program

Victoria“I like science class because it’s hands-on and we get to do experiments. I also like history. For me, I like learning about the past and historical events that happened. Like what it was like back then. I like learning about Native Americans and the Roman empire and more recent history like Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s good to know what’s happened in the past. This year, we’ve been learning about all the amendments related to the Constitution by writing paragraphs and studying about it.

I like attending MP3, it feels like a close community. There’s less people and the classes are smaller. We do a lot of group projects, so we get to know each other. It’s a very safe space. You feel comfortable with everybody around you. Like you can be partners with anybody in your class and you don’t have a problem with anybody. I have made a lot of friends and it makes it a lot easier.

Mrs. Warnock, she’s the art teacher here and my SLPC, she helped me find my curriculum and find which one was best for me for this year. There are different types of ways that we can learn something and if we learn a different way, the teachers are okay with that because they’re flexible.

The teachers here help you understand what they’re trying to teach. They will give you different ways to learn the material, like different examples. Again, it’s not just like the same concept. They give you different concepts to work on.”

Jacob, sixth grader at Meridian Middle School

Jacob“I was going to the car one day, and Mr. Torgeson was there and asked, “How’s your day?” and I’m like, “I got an A,” and he said cool and then gave me a high five. The staff here are really nice, kind and friendly. They make jokes and are just really nice.
My favorite part of the school day are my elective classes. To me they are the best time because you get to choose what you want to do. I’m taking an elective reading class and STEM class. In STEM we get to use Legos to build robots. My top three favorite school subjects are science, then social studies and then math.
Middle school is eventually fun. It kind of caused anxiety the first moments being here, but when you get to the second or third week you get used to it. Middle school is different from elementary school. The teachers teach us in different ways. They teach us about more things and we have to keep track of our homework.
My advice to incoming sixth graders is, don’t give up and try your best at everything you do. Whether or not you get it right you’re still probably going to get a good enough grade.”