Freshman perspective:
The early eighth grade program at LHS has been, so far, the best high school experience. Littleton High School was pretty much going to be the school I went to as my “official” high school—which solidified the decision to be in the EHS program. I attended the info-session that day when it was snowing (my parents discovering their early and immense dislike for the school’s parking lot) and headed inside with other students to the forum.
Dr. Oaks and Mrs. Bartlett Mogg gave a speech, a presentation (with quite a few spelling mistakes), and sent us to the cafeteria for food and tee-shirts when we were done. (Due to COVID we did not go on a retreat)
I don’t imagine online learning for an eighth grader was any different for the “actual” high schoolers. But one thing I do miss is having three out of eight classes being solely for kids my age (and at least half of them I got to know well). We’d do Kahoots, Quizlets, and other fun quiz games online either about each other or some random topic entirely.
Having our own lunch period during EHS is the biggest comparable difference between my freshman and 8th grade year. We practically had the whole cafeteria to ourselves and the lunch line didn’t go all the way down the hallway.
It was a nice, slow introduction to the school, which is, I think, the only difference that EHS-alumni and other students have.
Getting a first look at the program, it was explained that it was for students who wanted more, in whatever sense, you were going to try hard enough and put yourself in a position where you could work harder. So I was surprised when some kids completely butchered the use of the program.
But during my time of an extra year, I’ve got to know lots of great teachers, establish connections with upper classmen, and familiarize myself with the school—this experience will be something I can carry with me forever.
Sophomore perspective:
Our eighth-grade class enjoyed most of the experiences provided by the Early High School program before COVID unluckily shut it down. We were the third class, so for the most part, things were figured out and somewhat organized for a typical school year. It is an experience that can’t be compared with anything else, especially with everything else that happened in 2020.
One thing we were able to enjoy was the eighth-grade retreat, which took the entire 8th grade out into a cabin camp with Dr. Oaks, Mrs. Sutterer, and Mrs. Ambroggio, the new language arts teacher. We did many things, including playing five-on-five tennis, waking up at the crack of dawn to play gaga ball, and other activities as well. We were there to drink off-brand soda and meet the rest of our grade,
Being an 8th grader in high school would be unheard of anywhere else in the country, but for Littleton High School, this is everyday life. However, being uncommon, it comes with it’s own benefits and challenges. Being in classes with students up to 4 years older than you is certainly intimidating. Personally, geometry was the scariest class for 8th grade me to be in. I looked at the majority sophomore class as a 13 year old and I was completely freaked out. I felt like a small bug compared to all of them and they were just waiting to squash me even though in reality, they couldn’t care less.
Now, I realize that was definitely not the case. The first high school pep rally ever went to was Fall of 2019. I was intimidated by the sheer amount of students packed into the gym and I scrambled my way around trying to find the 8th grade section to sit in. I soon found out that there wasn’t one. This didn’t squash my school pride. I stood up just like anyone and tried my best to sing the fight song that up to that point I hadn’t heard once in my life.
However, 8th grade was not completely overwhelming. Our teachers made us feel welcomed and helped us navigate through this new territory as well as possible. Many 8th graders found comfort in clubs and other activities, which heavily included band and orchestra. Former 8th grader Luca Ellcessor said, “I took band. Band was a big one because it’s the biggest club here, and it also has a really strong community.”
For the most part, everything was pretty organized, and nothing seemed to go wrong at all! That is, until the announcement that our school would be shutting down for a week after spring break. As we’re all aware, those two weeks eventually spanned into the rest of the school year. Our class structure and our habits quickly collapsed, and everything went pretty downhill.
With many events already planned for us 8th graders for the end of the Spring semester, this disturbance surely came as a shock to all of us and caused a great deal of sadness. Our experiences with online learning were all different, even with our abundance of shared classes. Luca Ellcessor describes this experience, “I was comfortable with it, but I was comfortable with it in a sense of I was sitting on my couch watching TV eating poptarts.”
The online learning situation was very new and had to be put into place promptly. That being said, LHS made it a point to not make online learning in March – May 2020 too difficult.
Junior perspective:
There was nothing I wanted more than to get out of middle school. And that’s exactly what I did. I remember having very few doubts about entering the Early High School program, because I was just that eager to move onto high school. And in the end, it worked out. I truly cherish my memories from that year, and the friends I made.
The first time I met my peers was on the 8th grade trip to La Foret in the Black Forest. Knowing nobody else that was entering Early High School, I was terrified. But the memories I made on that trip will last forever. Making immature jokes, complaining about the food, and staying up late listening to my soon-to-be friends argue about Second Amendment rights (no joke). It was a great start into what might have been my favorite year of school so far.
Sure, not everything was perfect. We were all immature, and sometimes our teachers got frustrated with us. We got in trouble. A lot. I look back at all the things I did that year, and laugh. I was young and dumb. But in the end, I felt like a high schooler. I was a high schooler.
Nothing I’ve experienced since will ever live up to the fun I had that year. Freshman year brought back some of the drama I left behind in middle school, and then COVID hit. It’s weird to think, but my 8th grade year was the last (and only) time I’ve experienced a pretty normal high school experience. Sure, I couldn’t leave campus, and I couldn’t go to the homecoming dance, but it felt normal.
Today, I have no regrets. Early High School convinced me to stay at LHS in the first place, and it put me ahead in a lot of classes. One awkward side effect of this is that I don’t fully fit in with either the juniors or the seniors. While it’s a little better this year with IB classes, I’ve always had more peers from the Class of 2022 than my own grade. I know more seniors. I feel closer to the senior class. Funny enough, a lot of people think I am a senior. But in the end, I am a junior. I still have another year after this one. And I am happy where I am.
About half of the 8th graders stayed at Littleton after the Early High School program, and quite frankly, I don’t talk to 90% of them anymore. They were some of my best friends during 8th grade year, but we all went our separate ways. Some went deep into sports, some went deep into theater, and some went deep into marching band. It’s funny to think, but if it weren’t for the 8th grade program, I would never have been friends with all those people. We were all different people with different interests, but 8th grade brought us together.
In the end, I loved Early High School. It made some of the best memories of my life. I would do it again if I could. I love this school, and I love the kids I met during that program. I really do hope I get to meet them all again, but for now, I have two more years of high school to get through.
Senior perspective:
This is my fifth year at LHS. And no, it’s not because I failed one year of high school. I was a part of the inaugural Eighth Grade class. It’s weird to be here, my senior year, and know that everyone else in my class hasn’t been here as long. I would say my overall experience has been awkward and weird, but I wouldn’t change any of it.
My first experience in the building was my school tour in 7th grade. My tour guide was Dr. Oaks, the previous principal. I was on the fence about applying to the program because I wasn’t sure if I was smart enough. Dr. Oaks assured me that the purpose of Early High School was not to be a program for only the smartest kids, it was for the ones who wanted to push themselves. After my tour, I went back to my middle school and took a math test, the only math test I had ever scored a 100% on. I’m not really superstitious, but I felt that this was a sign for me to do it.
Because I was a part of the first EHS class, things weren’t really worked out. My 8th grade teachers weren’t really sure what to teach us since they usually taught high schoolers. We got in trouble, a lot, for our immature behavior and not trying hard enough. After November though, we worked it out and had some smooth sailing.
Freshman year was probably my worst year of high school to date. One of the nice things about EHS was that I was going into freshman year with the advantage of knowing the school and the people. The problem was that all of the friends I had made in EHS were reunited with their friends from middle school, leaving me out of place. I went to Powell, and LHS is not really known for all of the Powell alumni. I had to find my place at LHS all over again, but this time with a lot more people.
Eventually, I found my people, and I am sad to say I didn’t stay connected with the EHS kids; we all kind of went our own way. We all saw each other though in advanced classes because eighth grade had given us that advantage. Since we took Integrated Science in eighth grade, we started out as freshmen in Chemistry. I was always in classes with the grade above me, except for language arts and history. For freshmen and sophomore year, I felt kind of distant from my own grade since I wasn’t in a lot of the same classes.
Everything seemed to balance out my junior year, and I was finally in classes with my own grade. This seemed to be the first year it didn’t matter that I was in EHS. I was no longer distanced because I wasn’t experiencing the chemistry struggle my sophomore year. I almost forgot that I had even done the program; I was so focused on getting through COVID. I think most of my fellow Early High Schoolers can agree, however, that there was a strong sense of senioritis even though we weren’t graduating.
One advantage of EHS came to me because of COVID. I have a bonus year that most of my peers didn’t get. I am so thankful for my bonus year because so much of high school was taken from me.
At the end of my junior year, I was invited to be a junior escort for the Class of 2021 graduation. It was strange to see all of those kids moving on without me; we went through high school together in a way. We started at the same time and we took a lot of the same classes. Now that I’m a senior, it’s weird to not see them at school since I’ve been with them for four years.
At the beginning of August, some other 2022 eighth graders and I went on the eighth-grade retreat with this year’s EHSers. I’ve kind of blocked EHS out of my mind and tried to hide that part of me from other high schoolers. This year, I’ve been remembering more and more of my EHS time and I’ve realized that those are memories to be cherished. While I do feel like I’ve been at this school for way too long, I’m still thankful for all the people I have connected with and all the experiences I have had.
