Moving To A New School Shaped Me Into Who I Am Today

My backpack had those straps on the sides. The ones that are made for mountain climbers to clip together like a belt. No one ever wore those straps in 5th grade, and I was keenly aware of this as I walked through the entrance to my new school. I felt like I’d rather be a mountain climber though, than a nervous ten year old, so I kept the straps on tight.

I knew where my classroom was, having visited it the day before, going over in my head where I would put my bag and where I would eat my lunch. Standing outside waiting to be let in, I thought of how strange it was, all the classrooms spread out with each of the green metal doors opening to the dry air speckled with dust. There were no hallways at this school, no linoleum floors that in a few months would be slick with patterns of melted snow and mud tracked in by countless snow boots. There was just green grass and blue sky. 

When the teacher let us in, I could focus only on her smile, shining out from her black and grey curls. I tried to mimic that toothy smile as she told us to sit down. While the other kids groaned over the seating chart, I was relieved; I didn’t know if anyone would have sat next to me otherwise. I could dimly hear Mrs. Campbell taking attendance, going through names of kids, some who would later become my closest friends. For now though, on this first day, all I could think about were the friends I had left behind. When she got to my name, Mrs. Campbell asked me to introduce myself to my new classmates. I felt the pang of homesickness as I told them I had moved from Massachusetts, feeling tears prick the corners of my eyes.     

“Do you have a Boston accent?” asked the girl next to me, showing off her braces. Nora, I thought, recalling the attendance list. I could tell she had used Kool-aid to dye the tips of her brown hair a fading red. 

“Does it sound like I do?” I said a little incredulously. Her eyes widened apologetically. “No,” I sighed, suddenly determined to make at least one friend, “But I can do an impression of one,” I said a bit sheepishly. I did my best “park the car in Harvard Yard” and saw Nora giggle and start to try to do it herself. We both smiled and for the first time that day, I felt completely in the present.  

From that first day, my persistence in meeting new people grew. I started conversations that before, I would have never thought to start. I stopped longing for frozen cranberry bogs and changing forests, and appreciated the crispness of the mountains. I grew my hair long and drank in the sun all year, letting Massachusetts fade from my personality and from my appearance. In trading one life for another, I became determined to embrace change whenever it presented itself in my life. When I started high school, once more not knowing anyone, I felt a strange sense of confidence in myself. I made new relationships again, and found my place again with new people. 

Even though my first day of fifth grade has long since passed, I find that my experience moving to a new school played a large role in shaping who I am as a person today. Now, I am more outspoken than I ever could have grown to be had I stayed where I was comfortable. I am confident in my opinions and I don’t feel nervous about meeting new people; instead I look forward to those once awkward situations of not knowing anybody. Starting a new life across the country has given me the skills to adapt as I’ve grown and moved on from different stages in my life. Looking back on that experience makes me excited to move forward into the future, and to have new experiences that will challenge who I am and continue to shape me.