Coming of Age - Adapting to the New

I had never been the most confident or outspoken person. I’m usually a shy girl, who has a hard time adapting and adjusting to a new environment. Before coming to Moanalua High School, I attended a very small private school where everyone knew everybody. So, moving from a small learning environment to a very large one is really a huge leap for me.

I remember the first day of freshman year clearly. It seemed like it was yesterday almost. My dad pulled up to the front of the school. I saw students with their big group of friends. I’m by myself. I’m alone. I have no one. My thoughts kept going in that direction even though I had two friends who were attending here as well. It wouldn’t be long until I met them in homeroom. “Have a good day okay?” were my dad’s last words as I stepped out of the car. I nodded my head meekly as I shut the door. I turned around, walked up the stairs, and dialed Janelle’s phone number.

We met in the front of G building. She was with Czarina, Isabelle, and Brittany. (However, I didn’t know their names at the time.) Janelle and I greeted each other with a hug. We didn’t know what to do, such clueless freshmen we were, so we headed up to G201. We opened the door and an upperclassman was there. “Psh, freshmen,” were the first words out of his mouth. That suddenly made me inferior, but I held my head up and walked in like I owned the place. Janelle, her friends, and I sat the desks and talked. Then my phone rang. Shannel calling is what it said. I answered. She wanted me to meet her by the side of the library. I asked Janelle to come with me. We walked to the side of the library and found Shannel. We headed back to the classroom.

The first bell rang. “This is the start of my high school career. Here I go,” I thought to myself. My homeroom teacher, Mrs. Sueoka, started with an opening statement, welcoming us, the freshmen. Just the word “freshman” scares me. I feel like a target for bad things to happen. Watching all those shows with teens getting beat up, teased, and hurt in high school made me think that this place was a torture chamber. I knew those shows were stereotypical, but just the thoughts and possibilities of those bad things happening to couldn’t escape my mind. My thoughts were interrupted with my teacher telling us to go to the football field for an assembly.

The day went on. The worst part for me was lunch. I couldn’t get in touch with Shannel, so I thought I was going to be eating lunch by myself. I didn’t want to be labeled a loner. That would be the worst. However, Traci stood in the lunch line. I went to stand by her. We weren’t close friends, but she was the only person I knew. There’s never a wrong time to make new friends. We got our lunch, and tried to find a place to sit. Man, that cafeteria was crowded! I had never seen such a magnitude of students in my life, especially since I came from a small private school probably containing only 200 students compared to the 2,000 here at Moanalua! It shocked me for a second.

After lunch, I felt relieved knowing that the day was almost done. So far, so good. Nothing embarrassing happened to me…YET! Periods 3 and 4 were okay. I guess it wasn’t that interesting because the teachers were still introducing the course and such. The same usual stuff every teacher does at the first day of school. I looked forward to that last bell ringing. And it wouldn’t be long until it did. Riiiing! There goes the bell. The end of the first day of my high school career.

Even though I had negative thoughts about high school, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would have been. Making this big leap from a tiny school to a gigantic one really made me realize that this is where it counts. I have to make the best of this high school experience and not let it pass me by. This is where I will find myself and what I want to be. This is where I will gain knowledge, confidence, and friendships. This is where all the independence, responsibilities, and opportunities happen. I promised myself that I would do everything to succeed!