Freshman Academy coming to Chester High School

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Chester High School Principal Keith Kittell has set up a Freshman Academy that will help make the transition from grade school to high school easier. The Academy will begin July 27 and will run Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. until noon for two weeks.

"The transition from eighth grade to high school is probably one of the most traumatic transitions," said Kittell. "I have always felt that how a student handles the transition from eighth to ninth grade was an indicator to their success for their high school career and beyond."

"I did a lot of research for a paper for one of my classes that I was doing at Western Illinois University, it talked about transition and how tough it was for students," said Kittell. "Some students make the transition with no problems, some make it with just some difficulty and some aren't able to overcome the transition at all."

Kittell said that what they want to do is to make the transition easy for the incoming freshman. To be able to do this, Kittell said that they will do leadership training, team building training, and they will be teaching them the ins and the outs of high school.

"We will acclimate them to the building - where the classrooms are, and what the rules are - because high school is totally different," said Kittell.

They are also going to bring in people from SWIC to teach study skills as well as to tell them about college. They also plan to bring in several motivational speakers from the community and also people from skilled trades to talk about their trades.

"We're going to bring nurses and plumbers and others," said Kittell.

In a letter to the parents and guardians of the incoming freshman class Kittell said, "Each student will be assigned their homeroom teacher during the Freshman Academy. This homeroom teacher will stay with your student for their high school career. The idea is that the students will have a connection that will help them with their journey through high school."

"Our goal is to spend these two weeks preparing your sons and daughters for the rest of their lives," Kittell also said in the letter.

This will be the first Freshman Academy at Chester High School.