Freshman Chloe Shafir and Grace Gaffey are beginning their journey at Coginchaug Regional High School. They are both eager and hopeful to have a fresh start for the next four years.

There comes a lot of changes when transitioning from middle school to high school. Some people are excited about the transition, but in some cases people get nervous and don’t have as positive of an experience. Both girls said that there is more freedom and time to be more independent in high school such as having x-block, and being able to go on our phones between classes. 

High school is what you make of it and it seems like Chloe and Grace have a good idea of what high school will be like for them. The girls are glad that they had volleyball to transition them into the year and Grace was, ̈glad volleyball is in the beginning of the year so you can meet people and see familiar faces in the hall ̈. Grace is one of the four managers on the volleyball team. She records, does the scoreboard, and does tracking for the teams stats. 

Both Grace and Chloe have not been part of RSD13 their whole lives. Chloe was born in Hartford and then lived in Rocky Hill when she was younger. Chloe then moved to Australia after moving to Durham when she was about 5. Chloe moved back to Durham for fourth grade because of her parents work. Grace was born in Meriden and currently lives in Middlefield. She moved here when she was about five years old because of education purposes. Even though Chloe and Grace may not have been born and raised in Durham/Middlefield, they still feel part of the community. 

Chloe says her goal for the next four years is, ̈to make honors every quarter and get really good grades to get into good colleges¨. Chloe hopes to attend Fordham University to major in journalism. Chloe’s main focus during the next 4 years is to focus on her academics and push herself to be her best and reflect that through her work. Chloe wants, ̈to be able to get into any college [she] wants, or at least most of them ̈  Grace wants to get good grades as well and, ̈wants to stay above a B ̈. Grace told me about some of her school struggles and stated that high school homework is pretty difficult. Grace thinks it is just because we have more work in each class, not difficult work, but time consuming. She likes that we only have each class 3 days a week so that gives her more time to get her work done. Both girls have set high academic goals and are ready to push through the next few years.