By: Lindsey Beachboard
You often
see so many books and TV shows about the “new girl” in school and how her life
gets practically flipped around and turned into a big drama fest that will most
likely produce a sequel novel or season. Like most things in today’s society,
every aspect of social life is dramatized and romanticized to look more
appealing to the people viewing so they can temporarily escape from their
repetitive and mundane lives.
So when I
transferred out of the local, public high school, I expected all hell to break
loose. I imagined the world would suddenly come to an end and I would be sucked
into a never ending spiral of drama, stress, and angst from both my new and
former school. So far, this hasn’t happened. Once actually getting to my new
school and settling in, it felt completely normal to me. No mass explosions, no
evil teachers who have it out for me, no prissy popular girls coming up to
torment me. It was just like that feeling you get when you start a new grade
and get different classes; you don’t really know anybody (specifically) in the
classes but there aren’t already pre-defined cliques or expectations of you.
Now don’t
get me wrong, my old school Peninsula High was a great school, one of the top
100 high schools in the United States. I had a small group of friends there who
I still love and hang out with, but they were the only reason I stayed at that
school till the end of my sophomore year. It is a gigantic school, more than
3,000 kids in my graduating class, and I already knew a lot of those kids from
elementary school and high school. With that being said, there were a lot of
room to “accidentally” bump into people you have a bad history with. Lady Luck
was obviously not favoring me since I wound up having many classes with people
who had a negative impact on my life from earlier years. Couple that with
struggling through some personal, family, and emotional problems it made a
nasty combo of: “I’m super depressed and I hate my life and this school.” When
things continued to go downhill we looked into alternative schools, and SHAZAM
we found Fusion.
Now I’m sure
I could go on a list all the great things about Fusion, but most of you
probably know it since all of the advantages of this school compared to normal
public school is pretty obvious once you take a little tour of the campus.
However, Fusion is a small school, so social interaction is slightly limited.
For someone like me who is a little hesitant about bringing new people into my
life (due to past experiences) and being somewhat reserved, I find this to be a
much more comfortable and intimate atmosphere.
When I my
first day at Fusion began, needless to say I was nervous. I didn’t know anybody
or how the school worked, or where to go to the bathroom, how to get signed out,
etc. I often scuttled through the hallways trying to avoid excess conversation.
But after a few weeks of adjusting, some people came up and invited me to go
have lunch with them. This was last week, and so far I’m becoming fairly
comfortable and talkative with them. The transition from public to
private/alternative is a lot easier (and more natural) than I would have ever
thought. I am becoming friendlier with my peers while still maintaining my old
friendships back at home. Everything balances out pretty well here at Fusion
once you get used to it. I think I’m going to like it here.
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