Change. It is a small six letter word but somehow makes a huge impact. Change comes in many forms. Whether it is changing the type of laundry detergent you use for better and cleaner results, or if it is moving to a different country and starting from scratch. Well, unfortunately, for me, it was not changing the laundry detergent (my family loves our current detergent a bit too much!), it was moving to a different country and starting from scratch. Change is hard. Change also does take a long time to accept. Having this change in my life has been difficult but since nine months have gone by of me living in a whole other country, I have been adjusting. Due to my dad’s job, I had to move from Atlanta, Georgia to Toronto, Canada, and at the start I despised every thought of this. This is my adjusting period, and how it may relate to every student’s life for those who have gone through a similar change as mine.
I moved to Canada in January 2024, and it will be almost nine months of living here. This change took a big toll on me because I had to move away from my friends whom I used to see every day, move away from my volleyball team and club, and move away from the numerous years of doing public schooling. I decided that I should do online schooling since I wanted to continue being taught in the American schooling system. So, I chose Laurel Springs. Change brought along a whole new era for me. This is a new chapter because going from public schooling to online schooling, it is hard I will have to admit that. I found public schooling as a way to see my friends, and an easy life of school. Although when I moved, I saw online schooling as straining my eyes on the computer all day, and a hard way of education. Though, as time flew by, I slowly started to realize that all these things are just excuses of me not wanting to adapt to this change. I denied this internally for a long time. I wanted to pack everything up and go back and live the life I was living before. Although I knew that can’t happen. So I decided to take this change head on. To accept the reality and move on because the things I wished for every time I went to sleep, were out of my hands.
Online schooling was like no other. The only experience I had with online schooling was during the time of COVID-19 when public schools came to a decision to do school from home and on the computer for safety reasons. I did like that change because I would be home all the time and didn’t have to wake up early in the morning to run after and catch the bus. But, for some reason, adjusting to this change now in 2024, was hard. Maybe it was because I am in high school now and the studies are getting rigorous, or because Laurel Springs had a different type of teaching method than my public school. Soon after, I found out, it was both.
Unfortunately, now that I am in ninth grade and with the courses I am taking along with adapting to a different teaching method has been quite demanding. Although, I do like Laurel Springs. It was never the matter of what school I am in right now, but rather the matter of dwelling on the past. I am the type of person who holds onto the past and gets nostalgia quite easily, so of course I had to conclude that this behavior is not going to help me change. As time flew by, and after being more engaged in LSS, I adjusted.
I cannot say that I have mastered in accommodating with this change since only nine months have gone by. Every time I scroll through the photo’s app on my phone I, still do, feel nostalgic. Throughout this journey, I have been happy with my change and have had more ups than downs. My family and I often go to explore Toronto City and other popular places where we are living. I also cannot say that I have fully adapted to doing online schooling, but I can say with all the mighty confidence in the world, that I quite like LSS. I always thought that online schooling couldn’t offer as much as public schooling does, but this school defied my beliefs. I am glad I chose Laurel Springs because even if I don’t physically go to a school, LSS helped me meet many people along the way and gave me several unique opportunities. I have denied and regretted this change, but now I am grateful to experience something new in my life whether it be a different type of schooling or a different country that I have never visited before. I don’t know what the future holds, but I am glad about where I am today. I hope this relates to all the other students here at LSS or even helps them realize that whatever change they are going through right now, it is going to be hard to accept but it does bring along a whole new chapter they might never have gotten to experience if they didn’t go through this change.