You enter into a new school with no idea where to go, you walk down a crowded hallway full of unknown faces, and sit in a classroom with an unfamiliar teacher. Intimidating right? This was the experience for a multitude of students this year at Plainwell, transferring from an array of different schools. Elise Taylor ‘20, Carlye Firnstahl ‘19, and Blake Samson ‘19 discuss their experience making the switch to Plainwell High School.

“My old school had either I.B. classes which are really hard and they’re just more challenging than A.P. classes, they stress out a lot of kids and people usually drop out. So it was either that or transferring,” said Taylor.

Taylor made the switch to Plainwell from Portage Northern this year to dual enroll, and has gotten along with many teachers and student alike.

“The familiarity was the hardest part to leave behind but everyone at Plainwell is so much nicer, my entire choir class was super welcoming. Also with my dad working here made it easier because I knew some of the coaches like Mr. Rieman before I moved,” said Taylor. Her dad is physical education teacher, Chris Taylor.

Similar to Taylor, Firnstahl was also familiar with many people prior to moving from Otsego.

“I have a lot more friends here which helped a lot because I think it would’ve been way worse to move without knowing so many people,” said Firnstahl. “Kate Farho, Maddie Riston, and Alex Uridge are a couple people that made me feel welcome.”

Despite the friendly faces, there were still a few challenges.

“Moving a week into school was what made it hard because everything had already started, and it was just very stressful, but I would still for sure choose Plainwell over Otsego,” she said.

Much the same as Firnstahl, many students who transfer to Plainwell arrive from neighboring schools, however upperclassman Blake Samson discusses his move from Chicago to Michigan.

“I moved from a large school in Chicago because of my mom’s job; the change in size of the schools was probably the most difficult part,” said Samson.

“But there were a couple people that made me feel more comfortable like Justin Anderson and Tristan James,” said Samson.

Resettling in a greater distance also seemed to pose many differences between the two schools according to Samson. “ I think the people are friendlier here because at my old school there were about 3,000 students so you never really got to know people as well,” he said.

All three of these students have come across different obstacles while transferring to a new school, however they all came to the conclusion that they are happy they made the switch.