Junior Gracie Lunden, here taking notes in her math class, adjusted well to her classes this year after she transferred from Good Counsel High School. photo by Brett Melnick '12

by Rebecca Stussman ‘12

This year Sherwood took in 67 non-freshmen transfer students from private schools, an increase from previous years and an anomaly, according to the counseling department. With nine new students, Good Counsel provided the most transfers, primarily due to students’ dislike of its stricter policies.

“I transferred because … I wasn’t really happy with much at Good Counsel,” said junior Gracie Lunden, who transferred to Sherwood this year. “I like the other students here better in general, and I think the attitude is a lot less uptight, which I like.”

Good Counsel disallows technology throughout the school day, enforces a strict dress policy in addition to mandated uniforms and operates under a two-hour block schedule, meaning students alternate between sets of four classes each day.

Like Lunden, sophomore Brooke Thron transferred from Good Counsel this year and was drawn by Sherwood’s more relaxed atmosphere and regulations. “The freedom of having cell phones allowed and sitting in seats that are not assigned and eating lunch where you want is nice. So far I’m happy with my decision [to enroll at Sherwood],” said Thron.

The students are adjusting smoothly, though both struggled initially to find their classes in Sherwood’s maze-like halls and still have some difficulty getting from place to place. While transferring can at times seem overwhelming, Sherwood’s wide range of ways to be involved helped these girls and many other transfer students settle in.

Senior Lauren Gambrill also transitioned relatively painlessly into Sherwood, though she left Good Counsel not in an effort to seek out freedom but because an illness left her with little choice. Previously enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Good Counsel, a rigorous academic experience that resembles the educational atmosphere of a college, Gambrill faced delayed graduation after a struggle with meningitis caused her to miss months of school last year. Rather than stay in Good Counsel’s IB program, where the increased credit requirements and intense curriculum would force her to graduate a year late, Gambrill chose to become a Warrior. Like Lunden and Thron, she found the school environment accepting and received the resources she needed to become part of the community.

“Orientation was interesting. People all seem friendly and everything’s been explained very nicely,” said Gambrill. “It’s a little weird not being in uniform at times and having 45 minute classes and getting used to having cell phones, but I think I will be totally adjusted within a month or so.”

With such a large number of transfer students from private schools, no doubt due in part to the ailing economy, Sherwood’s halls and classes are accommodating a wider range of diverse students. All three students, like many of the 64 other new Warriors roaming the crowded halls, anticipate a good year ahead and are satisfied with their switch to Sherwood. “My overall impressions of Sherwood are that it’s a pretty positive place and I think I’m going to have a lot of fun here over the next two years,” said Lunden.