“This is the first time I’ve switched schools and it was a large mixture of emotions.”

“I decided to transfer to Caledonia because my best friend goes here and I didn’t think that my old school was very good for me. She started to persuade me to switch schools last year in September, and I never thought I would actually do it. Then a few unfortunate events happened to me, which made me think a change of schools might actually benefit me. By around February/March, I was convinced I wanted to switch schools. This is the first time I’ve switched schools and it was a large mixture of emotions. I was excited, anxious, eager, and nervous to go to a new school. Like I said, it was something I’d never done before. I was anxious and eager about meeting new people, excited for a better learning environment, and nervous for sports.

My first few months at Caledonia have been incredible. First things first, my teachers are all awesome. They are so accommodating, nice, and helpful. All of them have done really well at adapting to teaching online. My online learning experience has been very smooth, and I’m actually learning. I haven’t had many hiccups like I thought I would. Keeping a daily routine in order to get my work done has been super helpful. One thing I am missing out on is meeting new people in class and making new friends because I’m online. Hopefully I’ll be able to meet new people once school is back in person.

I chose to do online school because I’m able to complete my work quicker than I would as a face-to-face student. I also don’t have to worry about going back and forth between face-to-face and online because of Covid-19. Sleeping in longer is a nice perk as well. Everything has been smooth sailing and I actually find value in the material I’m learning. It’s also more challenging than my past school, which is a good and a bad thing. It’s good because I learn more and I actually have to earn my grades, rather than just obtaining them easily. It’s bad because the chance I keep my 4.0 GPA is lower because some of my classes are difficult.

I’m pretty excited about going back to school in person. I’ll finally experience the climate of Caledonia and meeting new people. Making new friends was an essential part of switching schools for me. However, the Coronavirus pandemic got in the way and I have to wait a bit longer.

The only thing I’ve learned about Caledonia that I didn’t know before attending was the building itself. I was super anxious at first because I was face-to-face, but I ended up switching to online. That was my biggest worry for the first day. I needed to find my classes and I had the map of the building pulled up on my phone just in case I got lost. I was lucky because my first four classes were in the South building, so I had plenty of time to find them. Everything went well and I found my classes easily until the school got shut down.

My biggest piece of advice I would give to the new students would be to do your work. There is nothing more to highschool than there is rumored to be. If you just get to your classes on time, do your work, and ask all the questions needed, your first few years of high school should go pretty well. That’s how it worked for me. Those are the ultimate things that are essential to high school. Other than that, just have fun.”