By: Maansi Maskai, Vivian Tsang
Around 750 eighth graders from Russell Middle School and Rancho Milpitas Middle School came to MHS for Eighth Grade Transition Day on Jan. 30, according to ASB Vice President Anvi Brahmbhatt. In their time, they toured the campus with student tour guides and received a glimpse of the different programs offered at MHS, she continued.
“[We had] 124 tour guides because we had some one-on-one language translations going on, [but] somewhere between 140-145 students ended up showing up to help that day,” Activities Director Joanna Butcher said. “I wanted to make sure it’s a good representation of our student body.”
Senior Matthew Clarke volunteered to be a tour guide for eighth grade transition, he said. He would have appreciated the same experience in middle school, Clarke commented.
“I didn’t have anyone to guide me when I was in eighth grade going into high school,” Clarke said. “I feel like I can take the responsibility to help kids get ready for the experience. My job as a tour guide is I have to supervise a group of 12 eighth graders, I have to bring them around the school and show them different locations and what they could represent throughout their High School.”
The Transition Day included presentations by current ASB students. The NJROTC department also had the opportunity to perform in front of the middle school students to recruit more members.
“I’m supposed to give a presentation in the theater about trying to get students to join leadership,” ASB Elections Commissioner Ethan To said. “[It] is definitely good to see the campus before they actually start classes here.”
“We were trying to focus just more on high school isn’t scary. You should get excited about it,” Butcher said. “My main message is our school may be large in size [and] population wise … but that there was a place for each and every one of them.”
Eighth grade transition helps the eighth graders gain a sense of community, Assistant Principal Jonathan Mach said. There are opportunities for students to do sports, community service, and join clubs in high school, he said.
“Eighth-grade transition basically means that they are going to come here and see all the programs that are awesome on this campus,” Mach said. “They can see what sports we have to offer and give them a nice tour of the campus. It is just able to excite them a little about going into ninth grade.”