Article August 22, 2011 Issue

The new girl at school

By Jordan Jenkins

I’ll never forget how I felt on my first day of high school. 

I had just moved from St. Louis, Missouri, to Denver, Colorado—from The Principia, a small private school for Christian Scientists, to a huge public school. And I had unknowingly convinced myself that I could be accepted and loved only by those who shared my faith. I was terrified to walk into a school where I knew only my brother, where teachers didn’t know me, and where there was no dress code, so kids had piercings, tattoos, pink hair. Everything was different! 

The workload didn’t help. I had signed up for as many AP and honors classes as my schedule allowed, and it felt unbearable on top of having to attend cross-country practices. The entire first week of classes I cried on and off, missing my old teachers and friends. Every night I would go home and cry more, begging my parents to let me go back to school in Missouri. They would tell me that this was the perfect time to put into practice what I’d learned at my old school and in Sunday School. One night, my dad laughed at the description of my fears.

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