Oftentimes, teenagers reflect on their middle school years and cringe. The choices made in middle school are often experiments. Since middle schoolers haven’t matured yet, they don’t know exactly what they like or who they want to be in the future, causing these awkward times. The phases many pre-teens go through are ways for them to express the trends they are being exposed to.
Caroline Weldon ’26 has had lots of time to look back at the person she once was in middle school. She has taken away the fact that, although she may have liked something at that time, she no longer likes it at all.
“Going through these awkward phases turned out to be good because all of your bad moments shape the good in you now,” Weldon said.
One of South’s guidance counselors, Troy Glasser, has seen the phases that freshmen bring into high school slowly disappear through maturing and the desire to fit in with others.
“It is a big jump from middle school to high school,” Glasser said. “As a counselor, you worry about the freshmen interacting with 17 and 18-year-olds. It is a wide range. Different mindset, different things going on, and different interests.”
The time between elementary and high school is often an uncomfortable period for kids as they grow and discover their likes and dislikes in the world.
“It is an awkward time for development for kids,” Glasser said. “You just have to push through and get through it.”
Middle School counselor Catherine Sonnenberg has been a counselor for six years and taught for two years at Pierce. She has seen growth in this adventurous part of many kids’ lives, such as when they change their style and personality based on what they see on social media. According to the National Library of Medicine, 58% of adolescents voiced that social media helps them feel more accepted.
“I do think that they [middle schoolers] jump into aesthetics and they want it to be their entire identity,” Sonnenburg said. “I think it could be the need to stand out or to blend in and not be noticed.”
Seeing as middle school is a time when kids aren’t judged as much as they are in high school, they tend to try new things, unlike high schoolers who mainly stick to one style or aesthetic.
“I think this is the time to sort of go outside the box and try something different,” Sonnenburg said. “Then, looking back on it later, you might be like, ‘that really wasn’t me at all,’ so you might view it as weird.”
