The Momentum for a Third Year at the Top

As a follow-up to Tuesday, September 3, 2002, I had a rather remarkable day 20 years ago today, on Monday, August 30, 2004.  I began my 8th grade school year at Percy Julian Middle School.

My classmates and I were the first to attend 6th grade at Julian, and now, we were beginning our third year there.

One defining moment was when I was at the Final School Round of the National Geography Bee.  The moderator, social studies teacher Mr. Krapf, made his way across the stage to introduce the finalists and have a chance to get to know them with a couple of questions. He asked me if I had been at Julian all three years, and I responded, "Yes".  While that's commonplace today, no one before my classmates and I had ever been at Julian for three years.  It was a way to cap off our momentous entry into Julian as the first group to attend 6th grade.

At the start of 8th grade, as I looked around the school, I wondered where the "older students" were, above me in age.  Then I realized, I am the "older students".  For the first time in my life that had been influenced by being the youngest of 2 siblings, I was at the top of the school.  I had given up my opportunity to be at the top at Irving Elementary School, going from the number 2 spot in 5th grade to the lowest rung of the ladder in 6th grade at Julian.  It felt unusual, because I was so accustomed to someone being over me, rather than have all the other grades at a school be under me.

Yet I didn't see 8th grade as a means to assert my dominance.  I saw it as an opportunity to engage the momentum I had built over the past two years, to continue making the most of my middle school years.  My participation in the National Geography Bee was one great example.  I also eagerly joind the staff of the Julian newspaper, The Jayhawk Flyer, which had started the year prior.  Additionally, I continued on Student Council.

Beyond the school walls, during 8th grade, I did the majority of my formation process for the sacrament of Confirmation.  The experiences of grades 6 and 7 shaped me so much in faith, and made me ready to embrace what the formation process had to offer.  It was a defining experience in my life, much as being at Julian was.

In some respects, that moment has stayed with me for the past 19 years, especially as I put faith into action by handing on to the students in my Religious Education class.  I'm in a position above my students, and I realize it's a great opportunity to will the good of the others.  It's amazing to bring my middle school years full circle by teaching middle school RE.