Moving is a common experience among many American families, whether it be for new job opportunities or for family reasons. According to the U.S. Census, 28.2 Million people moved in 2022. While moving can be a stressful process for everyone involved, this strain is only amplified for these children, who are faced with not only a new home, but in many cases, a new school.
District 95 has five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. Most students know their path of education from kindergarten, since their future middle schools are divided by residence and there is only one high school. However, this outlook is simply not possible for students that did not spend their complete childhood in the District 95 school system. Joanna Bijoy, sophomore, is one of those people.
“I lived in India till I was five. Then I moved to Kuwait for six years before coming to America. [I moved to] Springfield, and then I moved to Arlington Heights, and now I’m here,” Bijoy said.
According to a October Bear Facts Student Media survey with 254 responses, 106 respondents, or 41.7%, said that they moved to the school somewhere between K-12, whereas 148 respondents, or 58.3%, did not. Only 58.3% of the people who replied to the survey have been in the district since day one, which is almost two thirds.
Moving schools also provides a perspective of what kind of education students are receiving nationwide, not just by classes, but also by facilities and resources. Marissa Burr, sophomore, moved from Tacoma, Washington for family reasons.
“My last school was a lot smaller. Our library was less of like a place that you could just be, and more of a place for classes to happen. There’s [also] a lot more class offerings,” Burr said.
According to the October Bear Facts Student Media Survey, 46.7% of students that moved found moving to be moderately or very stressful. Many students benefit from making new friends, so they try to get to know new classmates so moving can be less stressful for everyone involved.
“I did make friends, but I don’t think [it was until now that] I found good friends, but I’ve made a lot of friends. Many people are nice and friendly in the school,” Bijoy said.
There are many ways to make new friends, such as being put together in a group project, or, in Bijoy’s case, joining extracurricular activities.
“I have joined [the] Medical Science Club because [I want to go] into the medical field,” Bijoy said. “I [am] also in Kinection, and connection is a K-Pop dance club, and so everyone [is] really friendly there. [It is] pretty fun.”
Moving affects a student’s academic life as well as enrolling in a new school, but that does not matter as much as the social aspect, according to Bijoy.
“[Moving] [did not] affect [my high school enrollment] much. I guess it [was] just finding a social circle; it was harder [because] everybody already knew each other,” Bijoy said.
Moving can also affect a student’s academics. LZHS classes are built to develop on their prerequisite’s topics. For example, a junior new to LZHS looking to take AP Chemistry may not be able to take AP Chemistry even if they took Chemistry at their old school, because Honors Chemistry is the necessary prerequisite to AP at this school.
Even though moving does create academic obstacles, there are accommodations that can be made for incoming transfer students. Burr had to pick out her classes last year, but just because someone did not take the same classes as someone else does not mean that they don’t get the opportunity to challenge themselves with harder classes, such as AP European History, in Burr’s case.
“I’m taking AP Euro right now, which I wasn’t originally planning on taking,” Burr said. “[In] my school’s curriculum last year, sophomores took AP World. So I was planning to take that this year, but then I ended up taking AP Euro instead.”
Many students think that moving is a demanding experience, but it can also bring new opportunities. A fresh start can mean losing everything that someone has spent so long building, but a clean slate can be refreshing as well.
“I’d say the move was stressful in and of itself because I can’t see my friends that I used to see all the time,” Burr said. “But I’m making new friends here, and Lake Zurich [is] a really nice place.”
With academic, social, and general adjustment stressors, the moving experience may amount to a lot of strain for the whole family. Even when catching up online is an option, moving away from lifelong friends that is a difficult adjustment.
“It is pretty stressful to have your whole life just flipped and put somewhere else,” Burr said. “[We have] been here a couple months, but we still don’t have everything together.”
