At the beginning of this school year I was a Patriot at Beyer High School in Modesto. Now, I’m a Bulldog in Tracy.

Switching from Modesto to Tracy was a journey all on its own. I have all new classes, new teachers, and new classmates. It’s a huge change from my previous school, since I lived in Modesto my whole life; however, my first day at Tracy High School wasn’t all that bad.

When I first got to this school and took my tour it seemed okay, but then I went to my second period class, and all eyes on me. I felt embarrassed and extremely nervous. I sat down and the people around me helped me understand more, which made the feeling of this new school a little bit better.

Third period was decent but it was still pretty nerve-racking. However, my peers in the class talked to me and helped me feel welcome.

At lunch I had a group of friends to sit with who tried to get to know me.

The rest of the day went even smoother. I developed a sort of confidence and the thought of me changing schools didn’t seem all that bad anymore.

The whole day, though, I was terrified of making a fool of myself or being the awkward new girl. I’m not the best at making new friends, and I had a terrible feeling that this school would continue the tradition. Much to my surprise, it was very welcoming.

I met a lot of people in my classes and they were all friendly. The classes I take even teach at the same pace as the ones I took last semester, so there was no confusion there.

Still, I was incredibly nervous. Changing schools was the scariest thing to me; adjusting isn’t easy for everyone.

This school is full of a lot of people and a lot of classes.

I was afraid of getting lost or looking stupid. I really didn’t want to do anything wrong or not fit in.

On my first day I was shaky and super cautious of not saying the right thing.

Changing schools in high school is harder than other years, and that makes even more reasons to feel insecure. However, with all that in my mind, I found that I wasn’t completely lost.

There are a lot of people here to help me and are willing to do so. This school seemed huge and intimidating at first, but everyone has helped me pretty much figure it out.