'Trial' day of school helps 7th-graders transition

SANDY — Left to 22. Right to 13. Left to 38.

Pull the locker lever and it opens smooth as butter — today, at least.

To a seventh-grader trying to finagle a troublesome combo lock the first day of school, the entire situation is borderline traumatic. Luckily the seventh graders at Mount Jordan Middle School got a half-day "trial run" to work out the bugs before their first "real" day of school Wednesday.

Stormy Finnegan, 12, said her uncooperative locker made her feel "scared and nervous" on Tuesday, but thanks to the practice day, she had no problems on Wednesday. Seventh-graders at all eight middle schools in Canyons School District get the sneak-preview day. The students then get to skip the last half-day of school.

"It's total experimental day," said Misty Suarez, Mount Jordan Middle principal.

The goal of the program, now in its fifth year, is to allow kids to meet their new teachers, learn where to catch the bus and learn how to find their classes. For generations, moving from elementary school to junior high has been seen as a rite of passage, and one that often comes with apprehension and worry. Prior to the program, some seventh-graders were in tears the first day of school, Suarez said, and some parents would show up with their kids and not want to leave them. "This helps diminish parents' anxiety," Suarez said.

The program has reduced the emotional first-day incidents, administrators say. "No more tears," Suarez said. "That alone is a huge accomplishment because it tells us they feel more comfortable after that half-day orientation."

Almost all the 200 seventh-graders enrolled attended the program Tuesday. They were joined Wednesday by the remaining 400 eighth- and ninth-graders for the first day of school.

"I like it just with seventh-graders," Marcus Brantley, 12, said on Tuesday.

Brantley admitted he misses elementary school already. "It's easier. You have one class. You don't have to walk all around the whole school and you don't get lost easily," he lamented.

During the four hour practice day, the seventh-graders receive their schedule and a map of the school — which they hold onto tightly.