
Warrenton Junior High School is definitely going through some changes, most of which for the worse. To begin with, the start of the new school year marks WJHS’s first year without book bags. I see no reason why our principal sees the need to do this. She supposedly says, “I have had calls from parents who have been concerned about the weight these people carry on their backs.” This may be so, but we should not be punished for it. It is not our fault that the teachers assign us so much work. If the teachers would cut part of all the work they load on us, then we wouldn’t have these problems. Another change we have is we are not allowed to chew gum. I don’t see any reason for this at all though. A lot of people would actually perform better at school if they were allowed to have gum. My reasoning is that it can take out a lot of tension or stress when someone may be working on a test or quiz. Also, it would help kids from complaining that they’re hungry or thirsty because gum can actually help quench your thirst or hold off you hunger just enough time for lunch to come. The last big change is we changed our name from Warrenton Junior High School to Black Hawk Middle School. I have no idea how this relates to Warrenton. Our principal said that “our school was changing more to a ‘middle school atmosphere’ so we needed to make our name reflect that.” I don’t agree with the name change, but I only have to go to this “Black Hawk Middle School” for one more year. I will be in 8th grade next year so it will be the last year in my non-air-conditioned school. Even with all these changes, I am still looking forward to going back to school to see how my friends have changed over the summer.