by Peyton Seppala ’23

Coming from a military family, I am lucky to have been able to travel around the world and experience many different opportunities. I’ve lived in eight different states, two countries and have attended 10 different schools. From the rural locale of Weston Missouri, to the bustling suburbs of the DMV; from tropical Hawaiian summers to icy Nebraskan winters; snorkeling in the waters off Okinawa, Japan, to mountain biking near the Yorktown Battlefield in coastal Virginia. As Johnny Cash sang, “I’ve been everywhere, man.”

Because of this, moving is something I have gotten used to and had expected my time at Sherwood to be similar to that at other schools. However, I found high school to be a different experience entirely and struggled to find any friends before the Covid-19 pandemic hit and I was sent back to square one. I had realized that I was not going to just “fall into” a friend group in a school as big as Sherwood. It was then I learned that to meet new people and enjoy my time, I needed to take chances and not wait around for something to happen.

When we were finally able to return to in-person learning, I made a resolution to talk to more people, join more clubs, and try to enjoy myself more. By doing so, I’ve made new friends and plenty of experiences and opportunities that couldn’t have happened if I had kept to myself. As I wrap up my senior year, I can tell that this made a significant difference in my experience here at Sherwood.

My point here is that it doesn’t matter how “experienced” you are at traveling to new places, or how many schools you’ve been to before; if you want to meet new people and get more out of your time in high school, you must challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone and work for a better experience.