When I started my transition from Redondo to Rolling Hills Prep, I felt I would be starting all over again. I believed that I would be going to a different school alone with zero friends, zero help, and no one to be there for me. As depressing as it sounds, I believed it would be for the best. I figured RHP was just a big school where I could keep to myself and avoid being social. That was the game plan for my remaining high school experience.
If you know this campus, you know this game plan was not going to work. The first day of school I went into the MPR for morning meeting. As I looked around, it became clear that RHP and Renaissance had such a small population that the whole school including faculty were able to fit into one room. To make matters even worse, the class of 2019 had a population of 60, and that the biggest class in school history! Even though the community was small, I still felt that I could keep to myself.
After the meeting had concluded, I met my advisor and advisory for the first time. The first people to greet me were Natalie, Corey, Matt, and Ian. If you know these four, you will know that being shy and keeping to yourself was hard to accomplish. They were extremely nice and funny and as more jokes were told I began to notice that I started telling jokes as well. It was another failure in the plan of keeping to myself. But I figured, “hey, four people know a little about me- that’s not bad”.
I continued my day and headed into global studies and guess who were in my class ready to introduce me to more people? Natalie, Ian, Corey, and Matt. In one day, I was able to get to know at least 80 percent of people in my sophomore class and some in other grades. That day at home, I felt that my plan was a complete failure, but as time went on through my sophomore year and my junior year, I’ve been extremely glad that my initial plan failed. I’ve been able to create great friendships, receive amazing advice, and get help from teachers I consider mentors.
The point I’m trying to make is that in life you should never be alone. There is always room for help and friendships. Here at RHP and Renaissance, I’ve learned that even though we are a small community, it has had an huge pact on my life and the lives of my classmates and other students. And for that I thank you all.