By Kamryn Peace
Have you ever been the new kid in school? This year there are over 100 new students who have decided to further their education here at Woodward Academy, and that’s just in the Upper School alone.
Starting fresh at a new school can be full of exciting opportunities and chances to try new things, but it can also be full of daunting challenges, Ryan Stiff ‘26 noted. Having previously attended a Montessori-charter school, Ryan shared how attending WA has been a big adjustment for her.
“Size was definitely a big change, [as] my [previous] school… was very small,” Ryan said. “Here a graduating class is like two hundred. My graduating class if I stayed at my previous school would be… give or take two [students]. I was at the moment last year where it was me and this one other kid in all of sophomore [class]. In all of high school [there] was a grand total of six kids.”
Helping new students adjust to WA’s unique curriculum and social aspects is one of the important tasks given to 9th-grade counselor and WA alumni Ms. Leigh Shelor ‘98. When asked to discuss what new students typically struggle with the most, she shared that students typically struggle with two major facets.
“Meeting people, making connections [and] making friends, that’s a big one,” Ms. Shelor said. “Academics is another big one–getting used to having homework assigned every night. There are some students who came from schools that didn’t really assign homework on a regular basis and are getting used to maybe a higher level of rigor.”
These challenges affect upperclassmen just as much as lower classmen, and maybe even more, new student Sophia Hughes ‘25 noted.
“Not knowing the social aspects [is hard],” Sophia said. “You know how every school has their social norms and kind of their unspoken rules? It’s hard because, as an upperclassman, I should know those things, but since I’m new, I don’t, so it’s almost like I’m a freshman. But I guess just the hardest thing is just making friends that are in my grade just because of my class schedule being so off compared to the [rest] of the juniors here.”
For some new students, challenges don’t only come from being at a new school, but they also come from being in high school for the first time. Gabrielle Dotson ‘27 understands this all too well as a new freshman at WA. Like Ryan and Sophia, Gabrielle pointed out the academic and social struggles she experiences as a new student; however, being a new student isn’t always challenging. With the support of others, attending a new school doesn’t have to be scary.
“The Peer Day outside was good,” Gabrielle said. “It was a good way to meet new people.”
