When students talk honestly about their educational journeys, they discuss not just individual challenges but the kinds of supports and structures that benefit all students during critical transitions. In a recent conversation brought together by the Boys and Girls Club and the Housing Authority of Bangor (BangorHousing), middle school, high school, and college students painted a vivid picture of what it feels like to move into high school and what helps and hinders upward mobility along the way.

Bangor is a small city with strong ties to the lumber industry. Eighty-six percent of residents are white and have access to five public middle schools that feed into two public high schools. The surrounding area is rural, and many young people feel compelled to leave Bangor for job and career opportunities after high school.

The Student Upward Mobility Initiative (SUMI) organized a listening session in Bangor to ground our second round of education-to-upward-mobility research grants in the perspectives of students and communities that our research was ultimately intended to serve. To complement some earlier engagement we did in the Washington, DC, area, we wanted to hear from learners in a more rural context. We also wanted to hear about the middle-to-high-school transition, a focus of our latest request for proposals. Through our partners at the Boys and Girls Club and BangorHousing, we spoke with 50 students across five sessions. Their stories underscore a simple truth: Academic success is deeply intertwined with emotional safety, preparedness, and connections to the right relationships.

Being Prepared Socially, Emotionally, and Cognitively

Many students we spoke with were excited about various aspects of high school (e.g., getting their driver's license or participating in early job training programs), but that enthusiasm was dampened by anxiety. Middle schoolers described genuine fear—of bullying, not fitting in, and being judged by peers. One student shared, “I couldn’t focus on anything because all I could think about was whether people were going to like me or not.” When students are preoccupied with social challenges, it becomes nearly impossible to invest fully in academics.

Across grade levels, students described the “soft skill” expectations in high school as a sudden and steep climb that they didn’t feel their middle school work prepared them for. The high school students we spoke to reflected on their abrupt need to know how to take notes, study effectively, write essays, and manage increased workloads—often without having been taught these skills. “Sink or swim” was the phrase students returned to again and again. One shared, “We’re always told to ‘study, study,’ but who actually knows how to do that?” Without instruction in the “how” of learning, responsibility falls heavily on students’ individual resilience, and not all have the same resources to navigate challenges effectively.

Students also highlighted practical competencies that helped them navigate challenges: time management, goal setting, communication skills, and self-discipline. Some students found that structured activities like sports helped organize their time; others relied on planners or digital tools. Students emphasized the importance of routines and having something to look forward to as motivation. Equally important was permission to fail. Students pushed back against perfectionism, noting that being expected to excel at everything increased stress and disengagement. “You’re not going to be perfect at everything,” one student reflected. Schools that normalized learning from mistakes helped students persist.

Relationships Provide Support and Safe Spaces for Students to Try New Things and Bounce Back

Beyond cognitive, social, and emotional skills, students consistently named confidence, self-respect, and self-advocacy as essential for success, even though these are largely self-taught. Knowing you can ask for help—and how to ask—can be transformative. Students who felt comfortable emailing teachers, attending office hours, or requesting mentorship described those relationships as lifelines. At the same time, some students felt invisible or unwelcome. One student described her brother, who struggled in high school because he believed he “wasn’t allowed” to talk to teachers or ask for help. The difference was not ability—it was access to relationships and clarity about expectations (i.e., social capital).

More than any single academic intervention, students emphasized the importance of relationships. Friendships, trusted adults, and peer support systems helped students feel safe, grounded, and willing to engage. Building those relationships often required intentional spaces—clubs, extracurriculars, and transition programs that go beyond a single orientation session. Students wanted to know where to go, who to talk to, and how to ask for support before problems arise. This sense of familiarity and belonging is critical to students’ persistence in successfully navigating their transition into and through high school.

What Students Say They Need

In our conversations, middle schoolers and older students reflecting back on their experiences offered actionable recommendations that would contribute to a strong support system for them to navigate opportunities and challenges. Most fundamentally, students and parents underscored the importance of ensuring basic learning needs were met first and foremost, such as consistently providing services and supports outlined in individualized education programs. They also uplifted informational and skill-focused resources to prepare themselves for the high school transition, a plan for how to access supports, and spaces to get advice on how to have a fun and successful high school experience that sets them up for college or a job after graduation.

• Clear information and a little coaching. Stronger middle school preparation for high school could include orientations, support groups, or workshops to provide clear expectations and build necessary executive functioning skills.
• Teachers who are approachable, attentive, and helpful, and tools for connecting with them. Stronger social capital and self-advocacy skills would help students identify which teachers to cultivate as mentors and to whom they could communicate their needs, which would help new high schoolers feel more confident navigating new expectations and school dynamics.
• Mental health, antibullying, and family support services. Students and parents would like to see more centralized social-emotional supports coordinated through the schools and to see such supports incorporated into core programming so that everyone is aware and has access.

To contribute to academic success and postgraduation plans, students and parents also requested two specific sources of support or programming:

• Life and college readiness courses, featuring information on FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and financial literacy to résumés and interviewing
• Expanded pathways, including trade schools, apprenticeships, and alternative education options

Community Partners Who Put the Vision into Play

Students in Bangor expressed excitement about the opportunities high school offers, worry about the unknown, and desire supports such as trusted relationships, guidance, and skill building. The conversations between older students and middle schoolers in Bangor was a perfect example of how simple it can be to meet students’ key needs for a smooth transition to high school. The middle schoolers shared that the sessions provided them a helpful space to name their hopes and fears, hear what high school is really like from older students, and learn how to find essential trusted relationships and the kinds of activities and skill building that are most essential. The staff members from BangorHousing and the Boys and Girls Club felt the day of discussion was a great use of everyone’s time, and they plan to replicate the space and conversations we held with their participants next summer. 

Their insights remind us that upward mobility is about access not just to schools but to the tools and people we need to feel confident, safe, and prepared to fully engage in critical social-emotional and academic learning. Families and schools rely on the partnership of groups like the Boys and Girls Club and BangorHousing to ensure equitable access to those core supports. The importance of cognitive, social-emotional, and social capital skills and opportunities in high school and the middle-to-high-school transition were key aspects of SUMI’s second grantmaking opportunity—ones that continue to be top of mind as we select our next round of research grantees to catalyze how schools can more effectively foster students’ upward mobility.