This year, more than 250 students made the transition to 6th grade at Darnell-Cookman School of the Medical Arts. In the weeks since that transition, these new middle schoolers have made the difficult adjustment between an elementary school routine and a much different environment that includes being around high school students.

Adapting to the new surroundings had a little stress for some of them, especially considering the much different change of pace. Lathan Parker came to DC from Westview K-8, and stated, “There are more classes and it’s a lot harder than elementary school.” Lathan’s transition to DC has been made a little easier by having an older sister who attends this school. That was also the case for Justin Wang, whose sister Jenny is enrolled here. Justin said, “I heard this was a good school,” which is why he planned to come to DC and stay through high school. He also noted that the medical classes at Darnell-Cookman will provide good information he will be able to use in the future.

Since coming to DC, Justin and Lathan say they’ve become good friends, and both said they would definitely recommend Darnell to future sixth graders.