(18, MA, USA) Anonymous - Discovering Myself

As someone who grew up going to a religious school until 8th grade, I was heavily influenced by the opinions of my teachers. The community of this school was very small, there were about fifteen people per grade, and since the school was Pre-K to 12th, there were around two hundred people overall. I grew up being very close to my classmates and looking up to the adults in my life. I had assumed I would stay there until I would graduate, but then my mother decided it would be best financially as well as opportunity wise to move me to public school for high school. At the time when hearing this news, I was devastated. When my high school career began it was a Covid year, which resulted in an odd first year at public school, not really affecting me as I would not interact with those on my Google Classroom meets and instead continue contacting my private school friends. As entering sophomore year approached and where I would be physically in the school, I became really anxious. The public school was huge compared to what I was used to, instead of two hundred people there were over one thousand. I realized I had no idea how to express myself, I did not have my opinions nor did I even know what to wear. In private school, the teachers would feed me ideas I should believe and I would just wear a uniform, butGrowing up in a small religious school until 8th grade, I was heavily influenced by my teachers' opinions. With just fifteen students per grade and around two hundred in the entire school, we were like a tight-knit family. So, when my mom decided it was best for me to switch to public high school for financial and opportunity reasons, I was devastated. The first year, during the Covid pandemic, I stuck to my old friends online, avoiding interactions with the larger public school community. But as sophomore year approached and I faced the reality of being in a much larger school with over a thousand students, anxiety crept in. Suddenly, I felt lost without the familiar structure and guidance of my former teachers. On my birthday, unfortunately the first day of school, it rained, and I went home and cried, overwhelmed by the new environment. However, as time went on, I began to adjust. Despite the initial struggle, I gradually learned to express myself and develop my own opinions. It was a challenging journey, but through it, I discovered my true self and learned how to navigate the world on my own terms.