Going into high school is a big change, but going to a school where you don’t know anyone is even harder.
Sophomore Chris Ding graduated from Ralston Middle School with the intention of going to Junipero Serra High School.
It was a whole new chapter in his life that he was hesitant to start. He barely new anyone there and didn’t know if he would fit in.
“My mom chose Serra for me, because she believed that the resources that they provided for college were more numerous than those at Carlmont. She wanted me to utilize the additional help and resources that were provided at Serra,” said Ding.
Freshman year started fairly well for Ding, but moving towards the middle of the year he felt that Serra wasn’t the right choice for him.
Ding felt that the school wasn’t modern enough. For example, most of his classes had the traditional white boards.
Along with the traditional style of teaching, Ding felt that the Serra wasn’t academically challenging enough for himself.
“I felt Serra wasn’t challenging enough either, because I was only getting about 30 minutes of homework per night. Even with a block schedule, and I was barely studying for tests. I am obviously not even close to being the smartest student there is, but I just felt I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough academically,” said Ding.
Since it was about the middle of the school year, Ding waited it out and finished his first year at Serra.
“I ended up not enjoying Serra,” said Ding.
For his sophomore year, Ding and his family made the decision that he would transfer into Carlmont.
Here, he was reunited with his best friends since elementary school and felt more comfortable.
“My brother also attended Carlmont before me, [but] my mom didn’t think they provided enough college help to students. However once I got here, she saw that the college resources here were well-meaning and easily accessible,” said Ding.
The change for Ding felt completely normal and it was easy for him to fit in, given he already knew people that go to Carlmont.
“I don’t think Chris has changed. It hasn’t really seemed like he left because even while he was at Serra, he kept in touch with most people,” said sophomore Adrienne Chin.
The real question is if Ding has benefited academically from being at Carlmont.
Ding feels that he has started to push himself a lot more in all of the classes he’s taking.
“It’s hard to say, but I do think he benefited from coming to Carlmont. But, we’ve been friends since the first grade, so I know I benefited from him being at the same school,” said sophomore Matt Shen.
