Every year, FWPA students and staff work hard to make the school year better than the last. As students move through their years at FWPA, they grow with the school and navigate challenges. Students shared their experiences so far in the 2024-2025 school year.
Some younger students find it challenging to be in a completely new environment with high schoolers, but sixth grader Sofia Dumar is enjoying the year so far. She shared that at the beginning it was a struggle to create a productive routine for getting her work done. However, she improvised and figured out a solution that ultimately fixed her problem. Now, Sofia is really starting to enjoy the school year. She has great friends and excellent teachers who support her.
Sofia stated, “The teachers care about the students; they remind us again and again until we understand the material, and I appreciate that.” One teacher who demonstrates this is Mr. Genzlinger. She particularly enjoys his science class and the current events assignment, because it was easy to research and it allowed students to pick their own topics, making it fun. Overall, Sofia feels like she is really starting to find her place at FWPA.
Several changes come when students move on to seventh grade. They have gotten to know the school, don’t have block periods any more, and can now choose their own elective class. Maya Kimani is a seventh grader and a student in Mr. Roberts’ musical theater class. Maya shared that this is her favorite period of the day. Maya said, “I really enjoy musical theater because I feel like it’s a great place to express myself.” She appreciates that Mr. Roberts doesn’t just limit students to one role in the work they do. In fact, he encourages his students to share their ideas, and he tries his best to make those ideas possible.
Maya has also had the pleasure of meeting new teachers this year, one of her favorite teachers being Mr. Klumpenhower. Maya expressed how there has never been a boring moment in his classroom as he makes the learning engaging and fun. Mr. Klumpenhower gave his English students an assignment where they got a prompt and had to create a story with drawings that flowed well with the prompt he gave them. Maya had fun exercising her creative ideas.
Maya is starting to consider being a part of FWPA’S ASB one day. This way, Maya can show off her talents not just in her classroom but with the whole entire school. Maya said she would actually enjoy being the president of the FWPA ASB. It’s safe to say that Maya is having an amazing time in seventh grade.
Being an eighth grader can be very exciting or maybe even a little scary. They’re almost done with being a middle schooler, and preparing to move on to being a freshman in high school. Angelena Krivoruchko is one eighth grader who is very involved in activities at FWPA and is enjoying her year a lot so far. She gets a little stressed with her work sometimes, but she knows it has to get done at the end of the day. Angelena shared, “I’m excited that I was able to get into ASB and Honor Society.” Angelena really enjoys the Minecraft assignments that Mr. Scott gives them in class. She thinks it’s a great way for students to express their creativity and involve schoolwork with gaming, which is something a lot of FWPA students have in common.
One change Angelena doesn’t like is the way leadership/advisory class was moved in the daily schedule. Last year, leadership class was before first period four times per week. Now, advisory is on Mondays and Thursdays between 5th and 6th periods. She enjoyed having leadership in the morning, as it was a way to wake her brain up and get ready for learning. Angelena says she’s starting to get used to the schedule though. Overall, Angelena feels her eighth-grade year is going wonderfully, and she can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of the school year.
Jacob Verbeurgt is a ninth grader at FWPA who makes his year very interesting by joining clubs and putting himself out there to be friends or spark up a conversation with anyone. Jacob thinks this year has been very exciting and definitely better than the year before, but he can’t help but feel a little sad that a lot of his friends left FWPA to go to traditional high schools. While he first found it somewhat challenging to reach out and meet new people, Jacob overcame it and now has made many new friends. In fact, Jacob has friends who are tenth graders. He especially looks up to two tenth graders: Brandon Nguyen and Saulo Rodriguez. Jacob appreciates how Brandon and Saulo aren’t afraid to start a conversation with him, they always make him feel included and welcomed, and he enjoys being their friend. Jacob is enjoying his ninth grade year and excited to see how the school year progresses.
Many of the tenth graders have been at FWPA for five years now, since 2020. In tenth grade, many students say it feels like the homestretch. They’re close to graduating from the school they’ve been in for half a decade. They’re starting to plan what they want to do next. Some might want to go to the University of Washington and be a part of the Robinson Program. Additionally, some tenth graders just started driving.
Angela Korneychuk is a tenth grader at FWPA who has been at the school since the very beginning. On the first day of school, Angela wasn’t nervous. If anything, she was excited to see her friends and catch up with them. This year, FWPA got a new English teacher, Mr. Roberts. Angela really appreciates his class. It’s her favorite period of the day. She appreciates how he’s an easygoing teacher and adds character and humor to his lessons.
Angela feels that she is managing her work and assignments okay, although she finds some of them stressful at times, especially when dealing with multiple classes. Yet, she always ends up being successful in the end. Her favorite assignment so far this year has been the English essay for the short story Sugar Babies, which the tenth graders recently read. She really enjoyed the story and the underlying meaning of the characters and their relationships.
Angela said, “Although I’m excited to move into a new school, I’m going to be a little sad about leaving FWPA.” The majority of tenth graders feel this way. They are excited to grow up and try new things but they also don’t want to leave their friends that they practically grew up with. This can be a reminder to the tenth graders to really try and enjoy their last year at FWPA because time flies by fast and before you know it, it will be over.
