Grade 8's Right

The sun shines down on me as I walk towards the building. Suddenly, I hear a voice behind me ask a question that hits me like a bullet to the chest. “What kind of hideous creature are you?” I turn around, my head hung low with both fear and shame. Quietly I murmur, “I am a grade eight.” The older student’s response was “Now that ain’t right!” Hello teachers, and “fellow” students, I am Zjaya, a proud grade eight student here at Brentwood, no matter what anyone says. I am here to talk to you about the challenges of being in eighth grade. Challenge Number One: As some of you may know, our natural habitat is classroom 200 in the Bunch. Every weekday, Grade Eights are faced with the burden of “big kids” staring at us through the protective barrier also known as a the window. Let me explain one small detail. We aren’t zoo animals! Well, unless you consider a group of thirteen year old students, filled with tons of energy, animals.  Challenge Number Two: At the assembly a few weeks ago, some of you may remember that Clifford and I spoke about our Night of the Notables. There was one thing horribly wrong with the response to our introduction. Can anybody remember what that was? Of course not. It was “Awwwwwww, they’re so cute”.  There is only one thing I have to say to that: we grade eights are only a year younger than the ninth graders! It’s not like we are even that young or little. And we’re really not that cute…Well some of us are. Challenge Number Three: Grade eights eat lunch at 12:45. We don’t struggle to find a place to sit, or stand in the lunch line for forty-five minutes. We don’t even have a lunch line… Oh wait! That’s not a challenge! It’s just something amazing. Do you ever notice that you don’t actually see the grade eight students a whole lot? Or maybe is it that we don’t get to see you? Some people may be worried about grade eights interfering with them, but we try our best to stay clear of their path. We eat at different times and we have classes in a completely different building. Personally, I think the arrangement we have is almost perfect for everyone. Our classroom is like a small community, designed to prepare us for the real challenges of high school.   Eighth graders here are the luckiest people in the world. Having the opportunity to attend Brentwood is amazing. All the teachers here care about the students, and are always willing to help out in any way they can. Even if there are some minor difficulties of being a grade eight, it doesn’t matter because of all the great memories we are making here. If I were going to school anywhere else, I would probably be saying “That ain’t right”. Thank you, Zjaya D, Grade 8