With the start of the 2025-2026 school year, many changes are in store for many people. New teachers, new students, and for the 6th grade, a whole new building. In 2018, Juniata Valley Elementary School moved the 6th-grade classes over to the Juniata Valley High School building. Since then, every year the 6th grade makes that special trip across the road to enter the High School building for a new beginning.

Coming across the road to a new building is an exciting thing; it can also be pretty nerve-racking with all the new things and all the new people. “I was excited to move over to the high school, but I was pretty nervous about not having all the same classes with my friends and having to meet a lot of new people,” described by Jemma Middaugh. All of the other 6th graders had a similar experience, except for Hannah Maslanik. For her, this wasn’t all too different. “Since my parents work over here, I didn’t experience as big a change. I usually go to my dad’s classroom every day after school, so this isn’t all too new for me.”

According to the new 6th graders, the best thing about the high school is the cafeteria lunches. While Hannah enjoys them all like the others, she thinks “the portion sizes are too small. I am often still hungry after eating lunch, or I get hungry soon after.” Another favorite about high school is having lockers and being able to have a little more freedom. Freedom is an important aspect of learning socially. The 6th graders have the freedom of choosing electives, walking the halls in the mornings, and the accessibility of lockers. 

The 6th-grade teachers are very well appreciated by their students. Ryland Carson and Jemma Middaugh agree that the teachers are all very “nice,” Alex Foor likes “how patient the teachers are while teaching,” and Hannah Maslanik appreciates how “they wanna push us a lot but they are also not mean about it. I see how much they want us to succeed.” Students liking their teachers is a very important step in their learning process. If a student does not like a teacher or a class, it can often affect their learning. Not liking a teacher can lead to lower confidence, boredom in class, and sometimes carelessness. 

The feelings of appreciation and respect are mutual between the students and teachers. Ms. Jamie Johns expresses how she “really appreciates that this year’s group of sixth graders seems very respectful, compliant, and hardworking. These are all qualities that will ensure their success throughout their lives.” Mr. Brian Sparr agrees with Ms. Johns, describing that “Every year, I enjoy meeting the incoming sixth graders, as each year presents different dynamics. This particular group of sixth graders is off to a great start this year. As a whole, they are a very respectful, well-mannered, and cooperative group. These attributes make teaching so enjoyable, and I look forward to coming to work every day.” 

While our teachers appreciate their students and would not change a thing, teaching is not always an easy job. Mrs. Anita Smith shares her experiences with the difficulties of teaching. “One of the hardest parts of teaching 6th grade is to convince students to trust the system by knowing and learning the responsibilities that lead to independence and accountability. We have established a great system that teaches students organization skills that will carry them through their high school career and beyond. Incoming 6th graders also have to quickly learn Canvas, Skyward, and how to monitor their email. While it seems minor to those of us who use these resources and tools daily, it can be quite overwhelming for these eleven or twelve-year-old children to learn and be responsible for in a matter of a week or two. However, once learned, the students tend to thrive with success.” Ms. Johns agrees with her and shares her personal experiences. “A challenging aspect of teaching 6th grade is calming students’ nerves about the junior high setting and helping them to build confidence in their abilities. 6th grade occurs at such a crucial age, and many students are trying to find themselves. As a result, it is sometimes hard to make it past insecurities to show them what they can do if they set high expectations for themselves and don’t doubt their unique gifts.” 

All three teachers love their jobs. They all have different favorite parts of the job. For example, Mr. Sparr’s favorite part and the things he looks forward to most are “If you had asked me early in my career, what my favorite thing about teaching 6th grade is…..I would have said…..When I see those “Aha!” moments during class that students have when a concept finally clicks. I still enjoy those moments. Since I am in the latter part of my career, I really enjoy the connections I make with the students. As each year passes, I have taught many of my students’ older siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and yes, even their parents. I joke with the students: If I start seeing grandkids of my first students that I taught, I’m out of here! The thing I look forward to the most is helping the shy students come out of their shell and blossom into not only confident students but confident people. I think that is the neatest thing to see. They go from a student who feels like they don’t have a voice, to someone who is not afraid to speak up and add substance to classroom discussions. I hope that this carries over into their senior high and adult life.” Both Mrs. Smith and Ms. Johns agree with Mr. Sparr. Seeing each of the students “blossom into thriving young adults” and “seeing their progress throughout the year, and I love knowing that a student will continue to be successful moving forward because he or she persevered through the challenges.” 

Both students and teachers look forward to an amazing school year. The students are nervous, but they and the teachers are all excited to see each other grow and discover new things. So far, these students are ready to get through 6th 6th-grade year and grow with each other.