The evident division between Conway and Big Knob students in fifth grade will soon no longer be a problem. With the two schools combining in the next few years, the new elementary school will combine the two communities starting in kindergarten. Students won’t have to undergo the challenging process of merging two schools like those that have come before them.

Fifth grade has been a year full of transitions in years past; between moving to a new school, switching classes more often and meeting a new group of kids, this can all be slightly overwhelming. Personally, we can relate to both the stress undergone of not only having to learn a new school, but a whole new group of students as well. There were some definite differences between the two schools in years past that made blending, at first, slightly difficult.

“[I noticed] Big Knob students seemed to be ahead in math [during fifth grade],” Eighth Grader Nick DiNardo said. This shows that the curriculum between schools might have been at a completely different level a few years ago. Another problem that came with merging schools was the social aspect, having to meet a whole new group of kids was overwhelming for us and classmates.

“In fifth and sixth grade [kids seemed to talk mainly to kids from their elementary school], but everyone blended together in seventh and eighth grade,” DiNardo said.

Starting in the 2014-2015 school year, the new elementary school is scheduled to be built and ready for the batch of students starting in the 2015-2016 school year. With the middle school being a part of that one campus, most of the issues will be easier to solve because the teachers are literally ten feet away from each other as opposed to miles when there were two separate elementary schools. Also, because the kids will have known each other since kindergarten, they won’t have to undergo the stress of meeting a whole group of new people in fifth grade.

“It is gonna be great for them, they are all going to be with the same kids that they will have known. That will definitely be a comfort factor that they’re going to have, but they will still have that responsibility that comes with school,” Middle School Principal, Dr. Darlene Corris said.

The merging of schools was a difficult and necessary change that came at a awkward time for us as adolescents. However, overwhelmed fifth graders can breathe a sigh of relief, because years later, we can look back and laugh at our silly rivalries and tough changes that came with entering middle school and combining elementaries.