Cultural Barriers

New student procedure lacks genuinely useful information

As I got ready for my first day at Staples, I had a pit in my stomach full of worry, excitement and unanswered questions. As everyone was in the company of their friends, I felt like an outsider on my first day at a new school.

I am no stranger to picking up my life and starting all over in a different setting. I have moved schools six times and now have it down to a sci- ence. But this time, even as a seasoned new kid, I could have used more support from the administration in order to help me adjust to my new environment.

Having lived in Europe for many of my formative years, moving to a big, American high school was definitely a culture shock. Navigating high school while trying to adapt to the new behaviors at Staples took a long time. Had the school helped to find someone I could connect with and seek out for help, my integration to this school could have been far easier.

Staples conducted a new student orientation and a freshman orientation. While I went to both, I found they lacked information about how to find your classes, clubs and sports you could join to make friends, as well as how to use the Saturn app.

Going from a school with 40 kids per grade to a school with 500 kids per grade was an enormous change. It was chal lenging to find friends who I connected with and shared the same interests with. I had to in troduce myself to everyone and put myself out there, which is expected, but still difficult.

The school should im plement a club where a group of new students all come together and introduce themselves. Even if the students do not end up be coming friends, it would bridge the gap between new students from all over the world and allow for the opportunity to spot a friendly face in the hallways. In addition, if the school had introduced the new students to their future teachers, it would have helped greatly on the first day of school.

Freshman year was definitely tough. Ultimately, I had to step out of my comfort zone to find my way around, which made me more resilient and flexible in the face of adversity. However, I would have felt more integrated into the school community, and more united with my peers, had the school offered more help.