Through Their Eyes: Following Two JBS Students from 7th to 12th Grade

7th-Graders+pose+on+their+Canoe+Trip+in%0Alieu+of+their+first+trip+to+Drey+Land.

Margaret Bahe

7th-Graders pose on their Canoe Trip in lieu of their first trip to Drey Land.

Anna Bock and Gigi Koster

Inspired by Richard Linklater’s award-winning film “Boyhood,” the EICs of The World dreamt up the idea of recurring installations in the paper written by a Burroughs student from seventh to twelfth grade. Not only would these diary-style articles act as a time capsule for the author, but also as a space for members of the JBS community to reminisce on/see the peculiar nuances of life at every age from 12-18. These pieces will be published annually, and we hope that you enjoy watching our authors, Anna Bock (‘26) and Gigi Koster (‘26), recap their experiences both in and outside of Burroughs for the next five years.

Starting this year in the middle of a pandemic has been crazy, it’s nothing like the way we imagined our first year at Burroughs. We didn’t expect to have to stay 6 feet away from everyone, only meet half of our class, or only see our peers’ full faces on Zoom or at lunch. We’re already halfway through the year and still feel as though today is our first day. Making friends is a lot more challenging than usual because we can’t do all of the bonding activities seventh-graders normally get to do. There have been some things of course, like the canoe trip, or the Halloween hunt, but we don’t have the bonfire, Drey Land, or sports. Still, making new friends is hard even without a worldwide pandemic present.

Images taken by Margaret Bahe depicting the Class of 2021’s 7th-Grade Drey Land and one of the Canoe Trips attended by the Class of 2026 demonstrate just one of the revised traditions that the new seventh-graders are presently experiencing.

So far, the community at Burroughs has been better than we ever imagined, and even though we don’t know most of our class, we feel like we’ve truly connected with the ones we do know. We now feel more comfortable around everyone, and we’re less embarrassed to ask for help. Most of the people we knew from previous schools or other extracurricular activities are in Cohort B, which made starting this year a lot more nerve-wracking, but that did not stop us from making tons of new friends. This year has brought so many crazy things that are unforgettable, but just in case we need a reminder in the future, here are a few examples of the things we’ve experienced in 2020: COVID-19, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Presidential election/debates, the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, West Coast wildfires, and Black Lives Matter protests.

 

 

Anna: I went to Ladue which had about 350 people in each grade, and coming from a larger school was challenging because a lot of my class stayed at Ladue. The friendships I made there were hard to keep, especially because it’s a lot harder to see my friends this year. It was more challenging at Ladue to connect with teachers and classmates, but at Burroughs, you get to know everyone.

Moving schools while most of my class stayed was hard to take in because I had to say goodbye to the friends I made but still watch as they became closer while I wasn’t there. It was especially hard to leave Ladue because of the memories I made in my seven years there, but I was ready to make all kinds of new ones at Burroughs. Overall, everything I’ve done so far at Burroughs has been amazing and the community here isn’t only a school– it feels like a family.

Gigi: Moving from Community School to Burroughs was a big change for me; I more than doubled my class size and the Burroughs community was vastly different than the one at my old school. At Community, we were the oldest students, and we are now the youngest students at Burroughs, so it was a complete switch. Different from Ladue, we knew that we would be going to different schools by the end of our sixth-grade year, and we had anticipated it because we couldn’t just stay at Community for another year. Most of us had known each other our whole lives, and I attended the school for 9 years. When the pandemic started, we all knew that there wouldn’t be an actual goodbye, and as soon as our final zoom ended, that was it. Transitioning to Burroughs for me was very different from anything I’ve ever experienced because it was my first time switching schools, and most people that I knew entering JBS were in Cohort B, so making new friends at the beginning was kind of hard for me.

Photos of Mason Evans Jr.,
the featured character in the
film Boyhood. (WSJ)

Our first semester a Burroughs has been a wild ride, and not only because of the coronavirus. Although we’ve had a unique seventh-grade experience, it hasn’t been too different from what previous classes have dealt with. Everyone at some point has had trouble making friends, (even if it’s not to this extent) and taking difficult classes isn’t a new phenomenon. The Burroughs community is very unique, and although it may be taking a different form this year hasn’t changed it as much as you’d think. While our time at Burroughs has been short, as well as different from what others have experienced, we’ve still made memories that will last a lifetime.