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Commentary: Fight freshman fear by getting involved
Change can be a terrifying thing. When you’ve known something for so long, and you know that at some point it has to come to an end, you get this feeling in your gut that you just can’t explain. Every time you think about it, you dread it. You know that moment is coming and you just can’t escape it.
That’s how I felt my eighth grade year at St. Paul’s Lutheran School Sedalia. I had attended that school since kindergarten. I was there every day of the week, and went to church there on the weekends. It was like my second home. Since there were about 70 kids attending there on average every year, I knew everyone’s name. All the teachers knew me and I knew them. My friends and I saw each other all the time, every day. We sat in the same classroom for seven hours together, sat at lunch together, and went to church together. It was this way for 10 years.
I loved St. Paul’s, and almost everything about it. The one thing I didn’t love was that it only went to eighth grade. That means that after I graduated, I would have to find another school. St. Paul’s Lutheran High School was 40 minutes away in Concordia, and even though they have dorms, my mother would never let me live up there. Sacred Heart was a smaller step, but I’m not Catholic. I lived in the Sedalia 200 School District, so there was one option left: Smith-Cotton.
The very words alone terrified me. Every time I would drive by on my way to school, I would wonder how I would ever survive in a place that big. There were three times more people in a classroom in one period than I had ever had in my classroom throughout a whole day. The size of the freshman class outnumbered my current class size by more than 300. There were two main hallways at St. Paul’s. I can’t even count the hallways at S-C.
Not only the size of the school terrified me, but the thought of losing my friends did as well. Of my classmates, three out of the eight would be attending S-C with me. This made me dread it a little less, but it didn’t take all that stress and fear away. One of my friends was going to Sacred Heart, another was going to La Monte, and one was going to Smithton. This group of people had been all I had known for so long, so the thought of not seeing them throughout the week terrified me.
On May 25, I graduated from St. Paul’s. It was a day filled with tears, joy, gratitude and memories. The next day we had an awards ceremony for the younger grades, and the school day ended at 11. When I drove off with my mom after I had said goodbye to all my friends, I knew I would never go to school there again.
I had played volleyball since fourth grade, and I wanted to continue to do so. I started attending open gyms for the volleyball program at S-C. I was nervous and shy at first, but once I got to know the girls and started coming out of my shell, I had a lot of fun, and I had new friends. All of a sudden, I wasn’t so nervous for high school.
In the latter part of July, I started going to band camp. I once again started coming more and more out of my shell, and had even more new friends.
When the day came on Aug. 24 for me to start high school, I was nervous, but a new-found excitement had come over me. It also happened to be the day of our first volleyball game, which made me even more excited. I had found new friends that day, too, and started to get to know them. All I had to do was put myself out there and talk to them. I knew that I wouldn’t have any fun in high school if I spent my whole time there being closed off and shy.
As the second semester is starting, I couldn’t be happier with my high school experience so far. I have more friends, I’m making good grades, and I’m having a good time overall. I believe this change has made me a different person, but that’s not a bad thing. I’m more outgoing and I feel like I’m easier to approach as well.
The change I was terrified for turned out to be beneficial. It’s OK to be scared of change, but we need to accept that it’s happening and make the best of it. Overall, I’m thankful for my experience at Smith-Cotton and all the new opportunities it has given me. I can’t wait to see what the next four years have in store.
Natalie Adermann is a freshman at Smith-Cotton High School.