A brand-new program called 9th Grade Tiger Academy was recently launched this year, providing extra support and guidance for incoming freshmen at Belleville High School. The new teachers and staff for this program are Ms. Rebeca Lazarean, Ms. LiKina Turner and Mr. Drake Burney, who are all working to provide support for incoming students, to help make the first year of their high school experience a lot less intimidating and stressful, and more preparative for the years to follow in their academic careers.

The 9th Grade Academy offers support for new freshmen as they enter into high school. Middle school is, of course, drastically different from high school, and the transition can be rough for some students. New adjustments, such as getting used to a larger building, a different grading system, unfamiliar work policies, a heavier workload, bigger expectations, and new counselors to adjust to, can be overwhelming and nerve-racking for most. When accompanied with support, advice and encouragement, the goal is for these anxieties about the new school year to diminish and for students to feel seen, supported and confident.

Not only does this program support students academically and emotionally, but it also supports them behaviorally. Staff have found that freshmen tend to have the most behavioral issues in comparison to other grade levels. This is likely attributed to the shift in expectations and the slow transition from child to young adult. The 9th Grade Academy smooths this transition and instills the skill set needed for behavioral success.

Specific events are held for ninth graders, one of which is a seminar that happens every month.

Rebeca Lazarean specifies: “Some of them will be fun, some of them will be skill-based and just teaching them different things – how to manage your time, how to set goals, how to discover your interests.”

These events focus on further preparation for the following years of high school and years beyond, as career interests and planning are crucial to early adulthood. When speaking on how these efforts can benefit students, Lazarean explains: “If they’re already struggling and if things are not looking good or they’re not connected – they don’t feel safe, they already hate school. Those next three years are going to be really, really difficult. So it’s just pouring way more into that first year so that we get better results.”


Why a Ninth Grade Academy?

Ninth grade is considered the most important year of a student’s high school career. Teachers and counselors have noticed a trend in students struggling with their first year, and action was taken to solve this problem and increase the success rate of ninth graders and reduce struggling.

Drake Burney, the new dean, sheds light on exactly why administrators felt a need to implement this change: “Freshmen last year, they had a little difficulty adjusting. It was a lot of behavioral problems, a lot of teachers felt the need to bring an academy model just to establish that relationship and culture within the students to really hold them accountable.”

Mr. Burney connects with his newer students as a former student here at BHS. He adds: “It feels like a full circle moment for me, ‘cause I’ve never really had an administrator or somebody in my corner like I’m trying to be for you guys. So I feel like that’s definitely needed.”

Ninth-grade students are the only grade level with two administrators who are fully focused on student success, so their focus beyond exceptional grades is mental health. The plan is for students to be optimistic, healthy and successful for their first year and years to come, so there is less student apathy and more engagement.

Ninth grade is the foundation of high school, so improving how these students approach their first year and perceive high school overall can significantly increase success rates and change how a new high schooler handles the challenges that arise when starting fresh at a new school. This goal is heavily stressed, as newer students tend to believe that their first year is not as serious as the following years.

Principal Crockett, when asked about the impact ninth grade academy is aiming to make on students, makes it a point that the first year is the most important year and is most commonly overlooked, as freshmen tend to struggle the most with grades and behavior out of all other grade levels.

Focusing on this group is meant to tackle each issue where they start, and aid ninth graders in demonstrating what their purpose is as well as an understanding of the importance of their high school career and its direct impact on their future.