Moving in High School

Moving in High School

I’ve seen plenty of movies where the main character changes high schools and finds instant popularity, romance, and overall success. Still, the thought of moving and starting over at a new school sent chills down my spine. And to my surprise, that’s exactly what happened. My mom had been laid off for over a year and had finally found a job in a town about 45 minutes away from our home. It all happened so fast. I was about to become a senior in high school. I was so disappointed and angry with the thought of changing everything and leaving all that I had ever known.

It wasn’t just my high school that I’d be leaving. I was also enrolled in the Business Administration program at a local tech center. Going there was my favorite part of the day. I loved my accounting courses and my teacher made everything interesting and fun. It was leaving this program that felt the hardest, even harder than leaving behind friends I’d known since first grade. Luckily there was the opportunity to go to a different tech center that offered a similar program.

Trying to get my head around moving, I visited the high school and the tech center where I would be continuing my classes. I must admit that I was still very frustrated, so it was difficult to see the opportunities the new schools offered. It was so different from my previous school that it felt like a whole new universe. To make matters worse, the school had a different credit system which made me question whether or not I would be able to graduate on time. In fact, it seemed pretty hopeless.

The first day of school, as expected, was strange. Students were all excited to see each other after three months. While everyone else was concerned with catching up with friends, all I really wanted was someone to talk to me. Even if it was simply to ask who I was and what I was doing there. Things continued to be awkward during the first few days. Some people stared, and to others, I was invisible, but eventually I started talking to people in my classes, who turned out to be much nicer than I expected them to be. I also started making friends with the other students at the tech center – mainly because we already had so many interests, like accounting, business, and entrepreneurship, in common.

As it turns out, changing schools my senior year wasn’t as bad as I had always thought it would be. Even though I’m no more popular than I was at my old school and, I went from being in a couple to being single (but that’s another story), changing schools turned out to be a great opportunity to make new friends and to collect new – and different – memories. But more than that, moving to a new school right before senior year made me realize that nothing is permanent and it’s given me the confidence to know that I can make new friends, pursue my academic interests, and develop new hobbies, regardless of my social environment. It’s funny; I hear a lot of my friends talk about how worried they are about leaving their friends to go away to college and question about whether they’ll be able to do it. Me? I’m not worried, because I’ve already done it. And it turned out just fine.