Transferring to a new school is always hard. Saying goodbye to friends and the unspoken promise of security can make anyone tremble. There is the act of finding new classes in a landscape in which you are not familiar, all while being surrounded by strangers. You must learn what new teachers want and expect, even if you are not sure of who they are. Now, imagine having to overcome all of this during the last year of high school.

Hi, my name is Andrea Steward and I am a senior. My life this past year has not been what I had anticipated at all. I expected, like everyone else does, to cruise through the end of high school in familiarity and comfort. Life, however, had another plan in mind.

My older sister Morgan was in a horrible car accident in February of last year. Now, I am not going to go into any gory details, but you can trust me when I say it was bad. This event made my parents decide to pull me out of my private school haven and to enroll me in public school. I went in blind, not having any inkling of what to expect.

Needless to say, I was terrified. I imagined it would be like the movies, and not the good ones. After I stopped getting lost in between Collier and Perricone’s classrooms, I finally began to get over the initial shock. I started to feel at home.

I am lucky. I met my now best friends during my first week. Everyone was so nice, so welcoming, they made me feel at home. The sense of belonging is essential. To belong is what everyone seeks in high school. I am one of the lucky ones. Not only did I have the opportunity to be accepted at Kelly, I have experienced the same here.

LCM is an amazing school. I have never felt regret about my move here. The Journalism class is my refuge. Every single writer on the staff has become my family. I am thankful that I have these guys in my life. Moving schools is difficult, but I would not change a thing.