By Sam Watkins
There are many ups and downs to being the new girl. The attention that you get can both be overwhelming and flattering. Some people will be excited to get to know you, while others make assumptions about you just by what they hear or see. There is a certain curiosity with everything new and because I was new, I felt a huge pressure to impress.
Pressure and nerves were the only things I was feeling on my first day at Bozeman High School – pressure regarding what to wear and what to say. Many kids were immediately welcoming while others were just warming up to the fact that there was a new girl in school. Being the nervous, shy person that I am, being friendly is the only thing that I thought I could do. I was leaving my old friends to move across the country. I knew I had to do my best to make new friends. Not having my long-term friends here for support has been a major struggle. They have been with me since I was young, and it sucks feeling as if no one can fill that void.
I felt that the way I was perceived could either make or break me. Some people react well to pressure and rise above it, and others sink and ruin themselves. I had to decide which person I would be. In some ways it was easy because a few students warmed up to me immediately. Others, however, watched to figure out what kind of a person I was. I knew that one mistake could totally warp the impression that I made. Being the new person, you don’t know the background to people or groups. That makes it that much harder to find quality friends (and I’ve been lucky).
People will hear and see what they want. The students who take time to talk to me and get to know me will have a different opinion of me than others will. Often, people who talk to me say that they had a false first impressions of me at first. Hearing that is both bitter and sweet. I dont like the first impressions that I hear but I’m glad that it doesn’t take much more than a simple conversation to change peoples minds.
As the weeks go by, the reality hits: the vacation is over. I am trying to keep an open mind on everything – the students I meet and the situations I am facing – because this is my new home. After a week or two of my appearance at school, the hype fades and I’m just another normal student at BHS. Just trying to get decent grades, and prepare for my future.