Ninth-graders get ready for the big time

The beginning of high school can be traumatizing.

"Kids in ninth grade struggle," Brenda Cassellius, associate superintendent for secondary schools in Minneapolis, said last week. "The research shows that if they don't get off on the right foot, they end up having a lot of difficulty. Ninth grade is a critical year for kids in terms of graduation, learning skills and persevering in going to college."

For the second year in a row, the Minneapolis school district this week is hosting a camp for incoming ninth-graders designed to ease the stress of joining the high school ranks.

The program, which has a $100,000 budget from the Minneapolis schools, is run by Project Success, a group with a mission to "inspire kids to dream about their future, and help them get there," according to Adrienne Diercks, the executive director.

The camp is called "2013," for the year that these students are on track to graduate from high school. It's available to all 2,200 incoming ninth-graders at the district's traditional high schools. More than 500 had signed up by last week.

"We hope the biggest thing is that they feel excited and comfortable to start high school, and that they know more about what the experience is like," Diercks said.

Programs like 2013 have been popping up all over the country in recent years as researchers have realized the critical role that the transition to ninth grade plays in a student's high school success. While 2013 is unique to Minneapolis, programs such as Link Crew, which operates all over the metro area, help students make the transition.

The school district doesn't have data yet to show how the students fared academically once they started high school, but officials are working on it, she said. They're analyzing grades, test scores, and whether students signed up for more challenging courses.

The 2007 graduation rate for the Minneapolis Public Schools -- the most recent data available -- is 45 percent. That's for the pool of ninth-graders who started in 2003-04, plus students who moved into the district minus students who moved out. The district lost track of 11.5 percent of the students.

The 2013 program started on Monday and continues through Thursday. Schedules include workshops ranging from yoga to an "expert" panel of high school students whom the freshmen can interrogate.

They get to see their new school, as well as have a three-hour bonding canoe trip on the Mississippi River. They also meet their counselors and ninth-grade teachers.

"We hope they meet new people, get comfortable with their school, and meet with their teachers," Diercks said. "I think they will be challenged and learn some things about themselves."

"Even if a student isn't able to come, we've reached out to them," Diercks said. "Some have said, 'I'm going to camp,' or, 'I'm working,' but I think even offering [it] has made a huge difference."

The school district still hosts traditional orientation nights with parents before school starts, so students can walk through where they will have classes.

This is focusing more on the emotional adapting to high school.

"It's just so powerful to see these kids connecting with each other," Cassellius said. "High school is kind of daunting. These kids see a big urban high school, and they hear all kinds of stories. Now, kids get there and say, 'It's nothing like people said it was going to be. Nobody is throwing me in a trash can.' "