Freshman year at Prep this year entailed the first “normal” year without masks since the pandemic to the new and up branded, Moving to Upper School Night. For the Class of 2026, a highlight of the transition from 8th Grade to 9th Grade was the Moving to Upper School Night, which also was changed this year.

“A redesign was done this year to make the evening more interactive for the students,” Christine Jisha, Freshman Dean said.

While high school will not begin until nine months for the Class of 2026, the preparations for them at Prep begin with their Boston Trip, which takes place every year in the fall around early November, where they are able to first connect with the student dean for their class next year. Each detail entails much planning, even from something as simple as the date of the Moving to Upper School Night.

“The date of the Moving to Upper School Night was purposely designed to occur after I chaperoned the field trip the week prior,” Jisha said.

Serving as a chaperone for the Boston Trip allowed the Class of 2026 to not only meet their potential student dean, Mrs. Jisha for next year but also to enable them to be familiar with at least one high school faculty member before the Moving to Upper School Night. It also helped her to get a better understanding of the students so that the Moving to Upper School Night could be organized more efficiently.

“With the redesign, we wanted to offer sessions that students could choose from that match their interests along with the things that they wanted to learn about in the Upper School,” Jisha said.

Through a survey completed shortly before the Boston Trip, each eighth grader was given the opportunity to choose sessions that matched their interests. 

Soon enough, “the sessions were narrowed down to the most popular ones, which were offered during the Moving Up night,” Jisha said.

And on the night itself, students were given more of an opportunity to connect with fellow students and faculty while not being tied down by their parents, who had their own sessions in the gym. The idea of being able to try something new, which the Class of 2026 first experienced through this night will be something that they soon enough will learn what high school is all about.