As the bell rang, I could feel my anxiety increasing. It was the first day of school and I had access next period. Being a transfer student I had no idea what that was. At my old school, I had study halls with an assigned classroom, not an access or free period.
To be proactive I asked a teacher what I needed to do and she told me to go to my assigned house so they could take attendance. Yet when I did that the staff member told me that was not necessary.
After becoming even more confused, I decided to just go sit in the library. It was not until the next day, I learned the rules and information about having a free period. The nice librarians informed me. They informed me that I must be seated somewhere and can’t just roam the school. I also learned that if I wanted I could go to lunch during access.
Metea Valley did a great job making transfer students feel welcome. Having a new student orientation was helpful and informative. However, they failed to tell us some important information.
Metea needs to inform new students about what access is and what it means. Talking about it at new student orientation or sharing information about it on the first day of school would be helpful.
Another topic that needs to be mentioned is Mustang 30 and getting out early every Wednesday. I did not know until the day of, that you get out of school early on Wednesdays. And for other transfer students who were also uninformed, this could cause miscommunication with parents and trouble getting picked up on time.
One positive thing Metea did a great job with is having a new student orientation. The orientation was helpful and encouraged me to meet other students who were feeling the same stress about starting school. The orientation also allowed me to get a tour of the school and find where all of my classes were.
A second helpful thing Metea did was having enough access to help. On the first day of school, there were teachers everywhere in the hallway helping me find my way to class. The guidance counselors were also very friendly with figuring out my schedule.
However, as I already stated the staff left out some information. The staff members or students helping at the new student orientation should have talked about drop off and pick up. As well as, which doors to go out and come through when leaving or arriving at school.
An additional topic that should have been discussed is the ten minute freeze after every passing period. I had no clue what that was and I tried going to the restroom during this ten minute freeze, but was not allowed. To prevent confusion and further problems, the ten minute freeze needs to be discussed at new student orientation or sometime during the first day of school.
Overall, being a transfer student at Metea has been a good experience but could have been even better with a little more information.
