Last year I started a new school.
I didn’t like being new at first but then after a while, I felt like I had never been new. I know you might wonder why I wasn’t shy or scared. Well, I was both those things when I started.
When you walk into a new school almost everything changes: the kids at the school the teachers at the school even the smell of the air is different. Usually school is your home away from home because you are there the whole year and your friends are there with you. So if you switch it is almost like moving from your home to a new one, which is also hard.
I would come home from my new school and cry to my mom and tell her how I was too shy to talk to the kids and how I missed having all my friends at my old school and felt like my old school was where I fit in best. My mom told me that every week would get better and better and of course I didn’t believe her because I was upset and I didn’t feel like I would ever fit in.
As the weeks went by I stopped crying to her and she would ask if it was getting better. And I would say “it‘s getting better but I still don’t feel like I fit in.” My mom would tell me that she knew I would fit in but I should start talking to the kids or in front of the class more. That took a while to actually happen. I did start talking a little more but I still didn’t want to.
One day, we went on our first field trip to an outdoor learning place where we actually got to sleepover! It was my first field trip-sleepover with my whole class. We did all different kinds of activities. Our last activity was we got into two lines and the teachers turned on the music and we danced like crazy.
Finally, that was when my shyness really went away and I was dancing my butt off. All the teachers were smiling and they were taking pictures of all of us dancing. Whenever my parents met with my teachers or we did portfolios my teachers would always say “she really came out of her shell on our field trip when she was dancing.”
After that experience it was still hard but I had also got invited to a few birthday parties which helped me get to know the kids and the teachers also tried to get me to talk more in front of the class. Before you know it I was making a speech in front of the whole junior school. All of this was a slow hard process that was worth it because then you realize you do fit in.
At the end-of-year ceremony where we say good-bye and get awards, I didn’t think grade 4 got any awards. Soon enough they announced the personal achievement award for my class and called my name. I was shocked. I went up and got the award, a book that had a sticker inside it that said “Presented to” and your name and the award you received.
After there was a little party in my classroom and when I saw my mom she was crying with joy because she was proud of me. I didn’t talk at all in the beginning of the year and I got an award at the end of the year.
First you might think you won’t fit in but then after this real story I am positive you will fit in – with guts, courage and support.
By M., age 10
