Making the decision to transfer to a new school takes lots of courage and strength. When enrolling in high school, most consider their school a new home, a place where they will spend the next 4 years.
One school cannot be appealing to everyone however. Schools across the country offer different things, operate in different ways and are filled with different people making each experience unique.
For some people at NC, like myself, their original high school wasn’t a good fit, and they were seeking something different. Transferring is available to everyone, you just have to have the courage to do it.
This fall, 1112 students transferred into Washington Township Schools. On average, in the United States, 10 percent of all 12th graders have transferred to a new school at least once before their graduation.
High Schools do not only offer learning opportunities, they offer friendship, sports and career opportunities as well. Yet many students tend to find these resources better at other schools leading them to transfer.
“We have students who maybe are interested in some of the programming that we have here that their school didn’t offer, so we’ll see those students transfer here,” counselor Alexandra Calvillo Herrera said.
Not all transfers happen by choice however.
“Some students transfer here because this is a pretty nice neighborhood to live in, and a lot of people will buy their homes and settle here, so a lot of those students end up coming to North Central,” Calvillo Herrera said.
According to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics, about 60% of students transferred for personal or family reasons, and 40 percent transferred for school offerings, programs and/or quality.
North Central is known for being a diverse school, where everyone is welcome no matter what. Along with this, North Central offers many unique programs to students and does an amazing job making these programs accessible to new students.
Transferring schools offers the student a fresh start. A new school comes with new faces, new friends, new teachers and much more. This provides a clean slate and is perfect for someone looking for a place to blossom.
Despite the many benefits, transferring also has downsides. The new faces, friends and teachers can cause stress. Students may feel out of place and shy, which causes a lot of anxiety.
To help acclimate students, North Central offers tours through the open house which happens in November. NC also offers students and their families the opportunity to meet with their counselor and build a schedule structured around them before even starting at the school.
NC does a great job welcoming new students and making them feel at home within a very short time. No matter where students came from and how long they spent there, it is almost a guarantee that they will leave NC with an indelible sense of Panther pride.
