Rachel W

Switching Schools

I went to the same school my entire life.  Every single morning it was the same routine. I would wake up, get my uniform on, and have my mom drive me off to school. This was what I had always done and I didn’t know anything different.  But one morning my whole life got turned around when my mom woke me up and told me that I was switching schools.

            I had been going to Faith Christian School since I was five years old, and I stayed at that school until I was twelve. It was a private school with strict teachers and navy blue and khaki uniforms everywhere.  There were all twelve grades plus kindergarten in one very cramped building.  It was a very small school and there were only about 30 kids per grade, which means there were about 390 kids in the entire school.

            When my mom told me that I was switching schools, at first I was overjoyed.  Mostly because, as much as I liked Faith Christian,  I had been looking for some kind of change for a while.  My mom pulled my out of the school mid-year in sixth grade.  So on my last day I got everything out of my locker and never went back.  I remember hating having to say goodbye because some of those people I haven’t seen again.   But in the long run it was worth it.  I ended up not having to finish sixth grade because I tested out of it but it wasn’t long before seventh grade began.  My mom went back and forth between putting me in public school, another private school, or homeschooling.  And unfortunate for me, she went with homeschool.

            All of seventh grade was torture.  I couldn’t leave the house all day, I didn’t understand half of the material, and most importantly I missed my friends.  So eventually I got up the  courage to talk to my mom about how much I disliked being homeschooled and she said to me, “As much as I like you being here, I want you to be happy.”  So the next year I was sent off to the wild and dangerous Hidden Valley Middle School.

Starting at a new school is one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done.  I went to a new place with tons of new people, and some of those people weren’t the nicest.  I went into that building only knowing one person in the whole school, but left knowing quite a bit more.  The year got easier as it went farther but I still struggled with trying to fit in.

            Now, I’m a freshman at Hidden Valley High School, and it’s never been easier.  I have so many more friends and I actually look forward to school every day.  All of the harder times in private school, homeschool, and middle school was definitely worth it to get to where I am today.