By Kate Franzen and Ava Rispler

Many Lincoln students feel nervous about making the harsh transition into high school, especially when they do not come from West Sylvan, the local middle school. 

When entering as a freshman, students are required to take a Freshman Leadership and Inquiry (FLI) class. FLI is a class designed to build community and ease the transition between middle school and high school. However, just two years ago, College and Career Exploration (CCE) was the required class for Lincoln freshman until it was replaced with FLI. 

The Lincoln administrators chose to make the transition from CCE to FLI between the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years. There were many reasons why the transition was made, but building a stronger community and making Lincoln a less intimidating environment was one of the major goals Lincoln administration wanted to achieve with the FLI class. 

“CCE was just one semester class…[it was] helpful to provide a home base for freshmen instead of a career based class,” said Lincoln AVID teacher and coordinator, Melinda Gale. 

Administration took into account that students felt that CCE was irrelevant because it only looked at college aspects during their freshman year. So, Lincoln administration wanted to find a class that would ease the transition from middle school to high school. They decided on FLI.

During FLI classes, students focus on community building and determining what your personal values are. Some values that FLI classes focus on are integrity, self-knowledge and respect.

CCE is a class that current juniors and seniors took during their freshman year to prepare them for their high school career, although some seniors don’t think Lincoln Administration met their goal. 

“I don’t think [taking the required CCE class freshman year was] a good idea because you grow a lot in these four years…your passions change,” said senior class co-president Miles Felt.

“I do think that some of the skills that we did like building a resume and interviews… are really applicable… but also I feel like the whole career aspect will most likely change during high school,” Harrison Teague agrees.

“[I think during] your senior and junior years there should be a required class that guides you through the whole applying to college process,” said Felt.

Freshman Liv Walters shares the opinion that FLI should be a class required for seniors, not freshmen. She feels that Lincoln High School needs another class like FLI or CCE when you are a junior or senior.

In some ways, Walters feels that FLI only prepares students for their high school career, while Felt and Teague expressed that CCE only prepared them for their college careers. 

“Mr. McCants and his TAs help us achieve our goals for high school but that’s it. And [he] wants us to get our grades up but they don’t teach us other things,” Walters said of her FLI teacher and his assistants.

Ms. Klein-Wolf, a FLI teacher at Lincoln High School, hopes to support kids going through the transition between middle school and high school by providing a safe space to get to know other kids in the school, and an adult in the building as a resource.

“[FLI] is the only class here at Lincoln that I know of that is truly about building relationships and community to build the best versions of themselves. I love this community,” said Klein-Wolf about her FLI classes. 

Even though Felt, Teague and Walters feel the need to have FLI and CCE later in their high school careers, Klein-Wolf believes that FLI is reaching the goals that administration hoped it would. Klein-Wolf sees the difference FLI has made.

 “I do see that students who didn’t go to West Sylvan and now, because of FLI, have an easier transition versus what I heard in the past, which students who came somewhere else had a really hard time going into social groups,” she said.

Klein-Wolf also believes that students are able to be more open about their feelings and build a community with their fellow classmates thanks to the implementation of FLI. “I do think that there are things we do in FLI class that we don’t do in other classes like self exploration and vulnerability, especially when you are in a vulnerable state,” Klein-Wolf said.