The 9th Grade Experience

It's time to get ready for Homecoming on this week's episode! It is hard to believe that we have just finished our 6th week of school and reached the halfway point of the first marking period. Listen in for strategies on finishing the grading period strong or even rebounding from a rocky start, the events and themes of homecoming week, and a reminder at the end that it is OK to change your mind an...

It has been a month of great adjustments for the members of Emmaus High School's Class of 2025. In addition to the normal growing pains of entering high school, they have confronted a new block schedule, continued health and safety procedures due to Covid-19 and for many, reacclimating themselves to being in a school building for the first time since March 2020. To help us work through it all with...

For students at Emmaus High School and around the country, the events of September 11, 2001, are history experienced through other's stories and images. Students rely on these recollections to gain perspective to the tragic events that rocked the country on that the day and the weeks after. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9-11 we hear first-hand accounts from EHS staff members about how the...

It was a quite the first week back for the Class of 2025 at Emmaus High School. In addition to all of the first-week jitters that accompany entry into high school, a major, record-breaking storm caused a 2-hour weather delay. In this episode, hear from students Cyrus Mackey and Prince Scille as they give you a first-hand account on a memorable first week back to school.  For all previous epis...

One of the biggest worries from incoming students is navigating the many halls of Emmaus High School. On this episode you will hear from five students who stopped to chat with us during a building tour opportunity leading up to the first day of school Monday, August 30.  Thanks to Tucker Evans, Derek Herman, Faith Riley, Jadon Pierre-Philippe, and Sarah Lorenzo for stopping to share their tip...

Freshman orientation at EHS is scheduled for Monday, August 16 beginning at 8 am. In order to get answers to your last-minute questions, 9th grade assistant principal Jordan Fortier joins us today on the podcast. In this episode, we talk about * The schedule for orientation day  * Building tours for all grade levels on orientation day and the remainder of the week * Information about clubs an...

What would it be like as a freshman in high school at the same time as a future NBA Hall of Famer? In this episode, you will hear Worcester Red Sox Radio Announcer Josh Maurer tell what it was like to "share" the halls of Lower Merion High School with then senior Kobe Bryant. Maurer talks about how some of the experiences during that year led him to what has become a near 20-year professional spor...

Welcome to the Class of 2025 and to the first full show of Season 4! The beginning of this episode features Class of 2021 graduate Owen Hook, who talked about entering 9th grade as a brand-new student to the district. He found himself through academics and activities and will move on to Millersville University in a few weeks. In the second part of the episode, we take a look back at the 2020-2021...

The 9th Grade Experience is gearing up for Season 4 and in this preview episode we got a little help from several members of the class of 2021 to give some tips that incoming 9th graders can use from Day 1. Listen for full-length episodes coming soon! 

On this special episode of the 9th Grade Experience we take it back to elementary school, as we hear 5th grade students at Wescosville Elementary share their passion projects.  Thanks to Mrs. Feher, one of the 5th grade teachers, for reaching out to the podcast to ask for assistance in helping her students record their work in audio form. In addition to the background information on the purpo...

Grace Comfort, Class of 2021, has an impressive list of accomplishments displayed on her #2021EHSGradSpotlight poster that has been promoted through various East Penn School District social media accounts over the last few months. She serves as the president of Peers Assisting Learning Support (PALS), Student Government Association Secretary and EPSD School Board Representative, and National Honor...

For the second anniversary of the 9th Grade Experience Podcast, we highlight the work of freshmen Elizabeth "Tami" Adesanya and Brasciana "Brassy" Ford in the establishment of the newest student group Students Organizing Against Racism (SOAR). Along with faculty advisor, Eyer librarian Mrs. Magro, Tami and Brassy are working to bring awareness and change to the mindsets of the Emmaus High School c...

This week, we give a special shout out to our amazing teachers here at Emmaus High School as we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week! We hear from three of our outstanding faculty members - Mrs. Horner, Mr. Remaly, and Mr. Iobst - as they give a little background about themselves while attempting to make connections to their 9th grade year and what influenced them to become a teacher. We asked each...

This special edition of the podcast was recorded on Thursday, February 11, 2021, at the virtual Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C). The session titled “9th Grade Experience - PETE&C Edition” was held on the final day of the 4-day event which is a “statewide event that provides quality programs focused on technology in the educational field.” During this intera...

Brendan Baig has quite the resume. He is the current Class of 2021 president. He is a National Honor Society member. He is a member of the Track and Field program. He founded S.A.V.E. (Students Advocating Vape Elimination) and participated in several organizations and clubs.  In the fall of 2021, he will be attending the prestigious CALArts program, with the intention of majoring in film comp...

This short episode is a non-released excerpt from a December 2020 interview with New York Times best-selling author Jessica Lahey, whose new book, The Addiction Inoculation, was released on Tuesday, April 6. We only scratched the surface in discussing the book, which according to her website "helps parents and educators understand the roots of substance abuse and identify who is most at risk for a...

Today's episode is the final installment of the 3-part #EHSCareerMonth podcast series, as we remix last March's episode with screenwriter, director, filmmaker, and podcaster Brian Koppelman. Best known for his work on the movies Ocean's 13 and Rounders, as well as the Showtime show Billions, Koppelman gives practical advice that anyone can implement today in order to grow and develop as students t...

It is hard to believe that it has been over one year since the last time that the entire student body of Emmaus High School has been in the building together at one time. This week we take a look back on the past year as we hear reflections from several students who participated on our message board answering the question: What have you learned about yourself in the last year? There was a wide-ran...

We are close to the halfway point of #EHSCareerMonth and on this episode we have remix of two earlier episodes of the podcast featuring EHS graduates Lisa MacDonald '14 and Senator Clarence Lam '99. We pulled out great career advice for students at all grade levels who may be interested in starting their own business like Lisa or mixing multiple areas of interest to arrive in a career like Clarenc...

The Emmaus Boys and Girls Freshman Basketball teams have recently finished seasons unlike any other due to Covid-19 restrictions. Through masks and in spite of missing out on traditional team-bonding activities, the teams persevered to finish "full" 10-game seasons against other Lehigh County schools.    On this episode, we hear from Jametric Harris, Daniel Rohlsen, Matthew Volquez and T...

The Emmaus Boys and Girls Freshman Basketball teams have recently finished seasons unlike any other due to Covid-19 restrictions. Through masks and in spite of missing out on traditional team-bonding activities, the teams persevered to finish "full" 10-game seasons against other Lehigh County schools.  On this episode, we hear from Alexis Krum, Taylor Gitski and Juliana Stichter about the ups...

Where will your path lead? On this episode, School Counselor Mrs. Grim gives us all the important information to assist students, staff and parents on the road to answering that that question as Emmaus High School kicks off March Career Month. She assists everyone in where to go to find the calendar of speakers, biographies on each presenter, and how to sign up through Naviance to attend the sessi...

On this episode we are joined by licensed clinical professional counselor, certified professional school counselor, journalist, and podcast host Phyllis Fagell to talk about the current challenges students are facing as they begin the process of transitioning from middle school to high school during the pandemic. Her book Middle School Matters: the 10 Key Skills Needs to Thrive in Middle School an...

With an even greater emphasis during these unprecedented times, student mental health has gained a heightened awareness as students face the challenges of the world around them. On this episode, we preview the 2021 EPSD Virtual Mental Health Symposium being held February 15 through 28 which hopes to begin helping parents and members of the community understand more about this topic.   Co-chai...

During the first few days of February, the Lehigh Valley got walloped with over 27 inches, making it the second biggest snowstorm on record. It gave the freshmen of Emmaus High School an opportunity for 2 snow days -- no Zoom, no Schoology, and no work! We asked students what they did to take advantage of historic weather and on this mini-episode we hear some of their awesome responses about their...