Students share their experiences transferring from private to public school

The first day of freshman year. Hundreds of bustling students hurried past sophomore Sally Rose as she looks down at her jeans. She feels abnormal, since it was only months before that she looked down at a plaid skirt. Coming from a class of only 50 students, she felt nervous and out of place. Today was her first day as a private-to-public school transfer.

According to greatschools.org, a schooling reference site for parents, a student’s decision to transfer to a public school may be influenced by factors ranging from tuition to a desire for real-world experiences. For Rose, her decision was based on convenience.

“My brother left Holy Spirit [Catholic School] after eighth grade. He went here to Blue Valley Southwest and I kind of just wanted to follow him wherever he went,” Rose said. “My parents really didn’t like any of the [private] high schools that much, so they just decided that this would be better for both of our educations.”

Enrolled in Holy Spirit for 10 years, Rose transferred to Southwest after eighth grade . Describing herself as a “shy” person, Rose said she had a difficult time getting used to the community at Southwest.

“My first day at Southwest was really hard,” Rose said. “It was pretty bad because I was a shy person before that, but not anywhere as near as I was when I first got to Southwest. It just kind of made me go back into my shell, but once I got to know people, it got 20 times better than it was.”

Contrasting to Rose’s experience, senior Johnnie Kramer, a transfer student from Saint Thomas Aquinas, said he had no problem integrating as a new student. He said he had “always been a people person” who “had good communication skills.”

“[On my] first day of Southwest, my sophomore year, I was kind of nervous, I’d say,” Kramer said. “Not so much that I didn’t know people — I knew a decent amount of people coming here — more so getting to know new teachers and taking new classes … I made a lot of good friends other than the ones I had very quickly, so I got that over with fast.”

Being involved in many school sports, Kramer said his reasoning for transferring to Southwest was the dedication he had to his training.

“From my perspective, I left just because I didn’t have the best experience with the coaches,” Kramer said. “[I] didn’t have the best relationships with them, and I had the same coach for all three sports. I played in football, wrestling and baseball. I didn’t think he was the best coach and a lot of my friends agree with that. So, my parents just didn’t like how I was treated, but I played and everything. We decided to come here because this is my district school, and it’s been great here so far.”

Kramer said Aquinas had a little more than 1,000 students enrolled during his time as a freshman. Freshman Libby Shiker, who transferred from Ascension Catholic School after her ninth year there, said her school had 600 to 700 students, approximately half of Southwest’s population.

“I miss how small it was, but I like how big this school is,” Shiker said. “It was good to know everybody, but it’s also good to have people that you don’t know here. There are people here that I don’t even know their names, but over there I knew everybody’s names, and [I] knew everything about them. Here, you’ll see someone in your grade that you don’t even know.”

Because Shiker is involved in cheer at Southwest, she said meeting new people was easier. Although having met new friends, Shiker said she misses her old friends and the memories they had created over those nine years, such as all participating in school theater together.

“[I miss] just being around my friends because we went to school together for so long,” Shiker said. “I liked the musical because it was a good way for my friends to have something together, and it was just a good thing to be able to look back on. I was really nervous [on my first day here] because I didn’t really know anybody. I tried out for cheer, so I knew some people, but I wasn’t really good friends with them. I didn’t know what to do and I was scared about who I would talk to in my classes.”

Knowing more people at Holy Spirit, Rose was involved in her school’s student council and other activities. Rose said she felt uncomfortable being more involved at Southwest because of the amount of students she did not know.

“I was more involved at the private school just because I was so used to everyone that I joined a bunch of stuff like StuCo and a bunch of different activities,” Rose said. “Everyone was just closer to each other and I don’t think anyone wasn’t friends with each other. Everyone had a strong bond whereas, here, I don’t know half of the grade. It’s a lot different.”

Although Rose said she has found some negatives within the community of Southwest, she said she has enjoyed the laid-back environment compared to her private school. She said she felt like there was an improvement in the freedom and in the way teachers understood their students.

“It was extremely strict all throughout the time I was [at Holy Spirit],” Rose said. “All 10 years, we had to stand in single-file lines and be silent down the halls. We’d get part of our lunch taken away if we weren’t quiet down the halls. There were a lot of things to get in trouble for. At my private school, they’d always warn the students that high school teachers have no mercy and they’d just be way worse, but then, when I got here, they were super understanding and [they] just made classes easier.”

In relation to classes, Kramer said he appreciated the chances that Southwest offered him through his sports training and his education. By coming to Southwest, Kramer said he had more opportunities to improve his academic performance.

“I think [at] Southwest, they offer more chances,” Kramer said. “There’s more opportunities to get a better grade, which I don’t think that’s bad. I definitely think if the student is trying, they deserve that grade. At Aquinas, it was kind of more like one and done. There [weren’t] as many of those opportunities, but Southwest definitely has top-of-the-line education. It’s not bad at all whatsoever, they both have very good education.”

As Rose continues her sophomore year, she said Southwest has offered her the opportunity to excel through the positivity and unity of the school community. While Rose still said she misses her private school friends, she would not change her decision to come to Southwest.

“I have considered going to Miege before,” Rose said. “Just getting to be with my friends again makes the chance tempting, just to make the high school experience even better. The opportunities there don’t even compare [to the ones at Southwest], so I don’t think about it anymore.”