Waiting to go in through the door, pushing through the crowd and stepping over backpacks are just three of the steps for getting to class in time in the ninth grade hall. The hall is sometimes crowded with more people than in the lounge and much louder. It’s a very small place for a large group of people. This year the ninth grade consists of sixty-nine kids, which is something Sandy Spring Friends School wasn’t expecting.

“I think our class size is reasonable. It’s nice having a lot of people around because you get to know more people,” said new ninth grader Oralee Skeath, of the biggest freshmen class.

“I think a lot of new kids applied here because of the relaxed attitude SSFS shows, and the more freedom we get here. When I visited, I really liked the environment, the exceptional dance program and the positive reputation the school has,” she says.

“I think maybe the kids really liked the shadowing program the school offers. Also the school had many open houses last year and there were many new facilities, such as the performing arts center and the new gym,” answered ninth grade teacher Steff Kerr, after asked why he thought so many people applied this year.

“Basically, this year many families applied and the admissions office accepted them. Obviously, they weren’t expecting that they would all come here and wouldn’t look at other schools,” said Kerr.

With so many new students, does the class size affect learning for some ninth graders? How will it affect trips like the ninth grade intersession or how did it affect the Five-Day?

“For the ninth grade Five-Day trip, the class size wasn’t as big of an issue. Basically, we needed more canoes and more food for every group,” Kerr said.

With the ninth grade intersession, it’s a whole different story though.

“Because of the grade size, we can’t fly everyone because it would be more than eighty people, including chaperones, in one plane. Especially during spring break period. It’s hard to find transportation because we can’t use vans anymore, and I’m the only one with a certified school bus driver license. Problem is, we wouldn’t be able to fit everyone in one bus, so we still don’t know where were going to go this year,” said Kerr.

So there are some downsides of there being to many people, though, freshman Ariel Johnson, thinks it’s a good change for the school.

“I think it’s good to expand the size because the school is already so small, and you also get to make new friends when there is a lot of people around,” shared Johnson.

Moving onto the ninth grade building, does the ninth grade hall really fit everyone inside?

“I like having the ninth grade hall and we all fit in it right now, but in the winter it’s going to be a problem. Right now we have all the outside space, but in the winter we’re all going to be trying to keep warm and it’s going to be a big mess,” said Johnson.

Kerr comments on the hall saying, “I don’t think the hall fits everyone right now, but it’s not a big problem because of the weather. Everyone goes outside in the summertime and there are new benches right outside the building that are being used a lot this year, unlike last year. [For winter time] the school is trying to insolate the hall to make it warmer for when it gets really cold, but it’s going to be crowded,” confirmed Kerr.

Ninth grade English teacher, and advisor, Clare MacKenzie, agrees with Kerr.

“I think the ninth grade hall is good because of the outside space it has and the little deck area. I hope that they will add some picnic tables later on,” said MacKenzie.

When asked about if she thinks the students like the hall better than the lounge she said, “I think it depends on each of the students. It depends on what students think of all being in the lounge, which is always loud and crowded.”

Another issue with having a big class is teacher one-on-one time with each student and giving enough help. Some classes haven’t changed at all, and some classes have added extra sections.

“They have added an extra section for language arts this year and have given it to Scott. This year, I still only teach two sections of English 9. I think the class sizes have a good amount of people. One of my classes has twelve kids, and the other has eleven. Last year I had about the same number so it’s not a big change,” said MacKenzie.

Ariel Johnson says, “In some of my classes, there are even less people in the class than last year and some of my classes have stayed the same. I do think that we all get enough attention from out teachers and if we need help we can always go to Extra Help [at the end of the day].”

Many students agree with Ariel like Tyler Sims, a new freshman.

“It’s really scary coming to a new school with a lot of people in the grade, but my class sizes are fine. I still get enough attention from teachers and I feel comfortable around the people in my class,” said Sims.

Freshman David Taylor, who’s been at SSFS for eight years aggreed, “I think my classes are okay, because they still are a small size. I still get one-on-one attention.”

He actually thinks it good to have a lot of people in the grade so they can help the environment and the school.

“We can come up with more ideas to help out the community and SSFS, and we can change stuff because we have so many people,” Taylor said.

Well since there are a lot of people this year, there were some changes that needed to be made.

Kerr said, “Some new lockers were needed, and they just fixed the lighting in the ninth grade hall. Not too much was needed though.”

On the other hand, MacKenzie said, “I know they did need extra desks for the ninth grade hall. I moved out of the hall to a new classroom, and didn’t need much either. They did, though, have to figure out what space was going to be used because there are so many people. Especially for class meetings. Last year they used Steff’s room for class meetings but we don’t all fit in there. This year we had to move to the meeting house.”