Arlington Tech - how did your child like it??
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Anonymous
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My 8th grader received a spot at Arlington Tech - we have been so excited for them, however now they have reservations because of missing out on a big high school experience/seeing their friends.
They are in the sports crowd, very outgoing, social butterfly personality. We tell them they will make new/more friends at AT. Anyone with a kid with a similar personality regret going to AT or switched back to neighborhood high school? They would be on the tv media/journalism path if anyone out there has experience with that also. Not a humble brag, not trying to sound like anything else except a parent trying to find the best fit for their kid. Thank you in advance. |
Anonymous
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A social butterfly in the sports crowd is probably going to be happier in a traditional high school.
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Anonymous
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My DD is an 11th grader at Arlington Tech. She is social and gets along with everyone but she is not a social butterfly or an extreme extrovert. She really loves the small size of the school and the individual attention she gets from the teachers and administration staff there. She is on the animal science path and is so happy that she gets to spend 2 hours everyday working with the animals. She quickly made a group of really good, mature friends there and gets together with them outside of school often. She also plays a varsity sport at her home high school. From that, she gets a taste of the big high school life and is so thankful that she is not a part of it (particularly the cliques and troublemakers). There seems to be much less of that at Arlington Tech. A good friend of hers is doing the media journalism track and another doing aviation. Its amazing how much the kids get to dig into their interest and learn so much before they have to make college decisions.
However, there are a few neighborhood kids (all boys) who went to AT for 9th grade and switched back to their home high school for 10th because their friends were on the baseball team and they missed their friends. So it really depends on if your child is willing to give up seeing close friends at school for the opportunity to take in depth classes on the subjects they love. But remember that all of the kids may be scattering anyway. For my daughter's friend group, 2 got into HB Woodlawn, 2 went to the W&L IB program and 1 other went to Arlington Tech, so not many were going to the home high school anyway. |
Anonymous
| This is PP above. Also something that I noticed with my DD's group is that there are advantages to not going to the same school as your friends. At this age, the the big high school has cliques form and your kid may end up being left out, even with kids they've been friends with forever. However, when they are at different schools, it becomes a non-issue because the friends can still be their old selves with each other and not have to put on whatever high school persona they have developed. |
Anonymous
| My kid (9th) loves it. He actually didn't want to go to school with his 'friends' and he's made a very nice group of friends. It's early enough that he can take a bus over to his home school for sports if he chooses to go. |
Anonymous
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My super social, sports kid did 9th Grade at Arlington Tech and moved to our neighborhood school for 10th.
He loved the small school and class sizes. But it was hard to play sports and socially it wasn’t for him. |
Anonymous
| OP here - thank you for the responses. They have deceided to take the ticket and start at AT in the fall. Woot! |
Anonymous
This. Arlington Tech is more for the antisocial kids. |
Anonymous
This has been my sons experience, his freshman year lost a few kids this way, even though they will likely still travel to tech for the classes they want. I would LOVE for you to give up the spot because my other kid has their heart set on it but needs to clear the wait list. If your child is interested in either STEM or one of the specialties (aviation, vet, ect) its is set up for it, but it is small. you can still do/visit your home high school for sports (crew is very popular). I was concerned about my son missing all the normal high school experiences, but he still wanted tech. In retrospect, he did not do typical social middle stuff anyway, not very many extra curriculars like I did. |
Anonymous
I believe their TV journalism program won a national award and got to travel to Atlanta this year |
Anonymous
Good for you! My 9th grade social butterfly boy (who is into sports but not school based ones) loves it there. Upon reflection he's grown so much in his short time there. Good for you/him! Welcome. |
Anonymous
ha! You must be that pi$$sed off parent who doesn't want ARL kids going to TJHSST |
Anonymous
| Social Butterfly is not a usual description of an AT student. They aren't all introverts, but not many big extroverts attend that school. If DC needs a big social scene, it might not be the best fit. Also, it really is smaller, so is not a big social pool in any case. |
Anonymous
It's 700 kids. That's not small. Yes, compared to 3K but not small. My kid is a social butterfly and loves it there. |
Anonymous
When the new campus is finished, how large will Tech grow? 1600 students? |