Recording 5-2-2024 11-19-28 am

The podcast episode is the last one in the series and features two special guests, Zaria Sharp and Elijah Stillman. Zaria discusses her middle school experience, including friendship problems and the challenges of school work. She emphasizes the importance of finding a studying tactic that works for you. Zaria also mentions her favorite teachers and offers tips for incoming middle schoolers. Elijah advises not to worry too much about drama and to focus on school. He also talks about making friends and maintaining relationships. Both guests reflect on their favorite memories and compare their experiences at their previous schools to their current one. The episode concludes with the hosts thanking the guests and signing off. Welcome back to Middle School Adventures, the podcast about all things middle school. And welcome back to our third episode, the old, the new, and the end. This is the last one of this series. We have two very special guests here with us today, as well as my co-host, Amin Ibrahim. Hello. Yeah, anything you want to say? How's your day going? Pretty good. Pretty good? Okay. We're going to introduce our guests to you now. We have our first guest, who is a very active middle schooler here at Uplift Summit. She is in our class council for the eighth grade. So why don't you talk a little bit about yourself, Zaria Sharp. Hi, Zaria. I am chair, captain, and I was my secretary for eighth grade student council. I love everything technology and Summit, basically. I've been here for about eight to nine years. And I've known Eliza and me for about eight to nine years. Yes, we are all very floozies. Floozies from this building, I think. And then our second guest we have here is Elijah Stillman. So tell us a bit about yourself. Well, I haven't been here that long, but I used to have a grade. Something about me, I really like the people here at the school. They bring energy and happiness when you walk in. Yes. Yeah, I can see that a lot. Very, very cool. So we're going to start by interviewing Zaria, and Amin is going to do most of the battle. I have one or two questions, I think, that he's going to take over now for me. All right, Zaria. So our first question we have is, how would you describe your middle school experience here as a whole? Oh, that's a layered question. I would say it was not bad, but it wasn't the best. I did have a lot of friendship problems and problems just in general with, like, school and being in the office a lot. But once I got in control of my emotions and my friends' emotions, it was a lot easier to navigate middle school than it was, like, 6th and 7th grade. Once we got to 8th grade, our emotions kind of calmed down, and most people stopped wanting to, like, be the center of attention, and most people just wanted to pass and leave. So now I think my middle school experience is more calm than it was in 6th and 7th grade. Then next we want to know, can you share a challenge from your middle school experience and how you conquered it? The biggest challenge was probably work, just a lot of work. And a lot of people are going to say middle school doesn't matter for your college and your high school. Well, if you don't pass your STAR test and you don't pass all that stuff, you won't get to high school. So all the work was a big part of it, especially having high school classes in middle school, like algebra and digital media in Spanish. It's just way harder than any other middle school class. Also the big jump from 7th grade math to algebra was a lot. So do you have any tips on how you overcame that challenge? I would say study. Study is probably the most important thing you'll ever do in your entire life. People say study doesn't work. It does, but you need to find what works for you. For me, flashcards work, but for some other people, reading out of a notebook could work. So find a studying tactic that works for you, and you'll pass all of your grades. Oh, and final question. This is a bonus question. What's your favorite teacher you've had in middle school? Most people who listen to this podcast, unless you're in 8th grade and you've been here for a long time, won't know her. Ms. White was maybe one of the best teachers that we had all of 6th grade year. But it always varies. Like my favorite 8th grade teacher was Ms. White. 7th grade was Mr. M. And now 8th grade is Ms. Cuddy and Ms. Shirley. But they're really not teachers, but they are 8th grade chairs. So they're great. Very, very nice. And one more extra bonus, bonus question we have here for you is just any extra tips that you have for incoming middle schoolers, the 5th graders coming into the 6th grade. I know it seems like a lot, and I know it seems like, oh, my God, we have a three-week testing period. How am I going to get to all my classes? Each school, when you think about it, is so small. And all your classes are downstairs when you're in 6th grade, and all your classes are upstairs when you're in 7th and 8th grade. Except for arts, like art, music, and theater, it's really easy to get to all your classes. And they don't give out tardies like you think they do. And another big tip is to not date and to focus on sports. Very, very cool. So I'm going to take over now, and we're going to start interviewing our second guest, Elijah Spillman. So kind of like our last question we had for Zaria, what is your best overall tip for getting through middle school as a whole? The best overall tip? Don't worry too much about drama and stuff like that because you will focus more on the drama. Because school can really bring you down in your grade. You don't want to fail middle school. That will be a really bad thing. So, yes. Okay. Next question. What is your take on making friends and maintaining relationships? With a friend, I think talking to them. First impression gets really important. And I guess you can start from that first impression. Talk to them more. Say hi. Slowly talk to them. And I think you'll start, you know, becoming friends and maintaining relationships. Don't do too much. Like if they don't want you to do that, like if it's like they don't want you to get into drama and stuff, try not to get into drama. Because, you know, it will cause stuff and involve them in it, which they probably won't. Okay, great. And then our question, Zaria, before I let Amin take the bonus question. What is your favorite thing about middle school? This can be a memory or this can be just like a thing that we do. What is your favorite thing? My favorite thing was actually seventh grade. All of seventh grade. Seventh grade was a ride. It was an experience like no other. It was really an awakening coming to the school. Because I didn't expect it when I came here, so I thought the school was like really strict and stuff. It was like, you know, it was really a ride. A long one. Yeah, a very long ride. Seventh grade was extremely long. Seventh grade did feel longer than any other of the grades that we've ever done. Yeah, it's in the middle, so I can understand that. I totally agree. Amin, would you like to take away our last and final question? Yeah, all right. So this one, our bonus question was, like, how would you compare and contrast your school life here at Summit to whatever school you were at, like, in sixth grade? At my old school, it was much more smaller, so everyone knew each other. And school life there, I was more focused on school. And I really kept to myself. But at this school, when I got here, I don't know how it evolved for me. Lots of drama, stuff like that. And I started worrying about other things that are not related. So I would worry about drama, fights, stuff like that. Yeah, so in sixth grade, I was more to myself. And in seventh grade, I was more open. And it was a drama. Would you say that impacted you positively or negatively? I'd say it would impact me. I would say in the middle. I mean, there's just some ups and downs about it. I mean, trauma. So probably what I know is forgiveness is stronger. And some people might say, oh, you know, forget it. It's drama. It's no drama. And the positive thing about it, I mean, it's easy to get out of. So it was easy for me to stop getting into drama and more worry about school. It was really just a positive thing. So I know what it was like to go into drama, and that was easy not to go into drama. Can I take another question? If you're trying to avoid drama and someone's trying to tell you something, just be like, I don't want to be involved with that. Then they'll just stop telling you stuff, and you can focus on schoolwork. I have to say those literal four words, don't tell me anything. It's really easy to turn it down. I'm just being like, okay, I don't care. I'd recommend just, like, if your friends are the kind of person that, like, would, like, create drama all the time, they're probably not the kind of people you want to associate with. Absolutely. Oh, definitely. Some people who also create drama create it for the fun of it. So try and steer your friends in the right direction. If they're going into the wrong direction coming into middle school, try to take them back to the right direction, because that's why a lot of friendships break up is because one friend does it to the wrong direction and the other friend does not help them come back. Friendship is a big thing in middle school. Okay, great. Well, thank you so much for coming and letting us interview you. How are we doing on time, Ameen? Ten minutes. We definitely have enough. Okay, great. So as you're running out of time here, we're going to let you guys go. Thank you so much again for coming. And this is Eliza Thornton. And Ameen Ibrahim. Signing off.