Change isn't always the best. by Susanna

Change isn't always the best. by Susanna - May 2022 Scholarship Essay

When people use the phrase "change is good", it almost feels as if they have never had to deal with real change in their life. And when I say that I do not mean that their feelings are not valid, but more of disagreeing with the statement. They are somewhat right, change can be a positive thing, but it can also be someone's worst nightmare. Life is hard, most people would attest to that. The problem is knowing that life is not easy. For example, I spent the first five years of my education attending private schools. Not the kind of private schools where they have the embroidered uniforms or the five-star meals, but the ones that decided to incorporate bible study and Wednesday morning sermon as a part of the curriculum in order to get more state funding. Kindergarten to second grade was a breeze. Good friends, or at least good enough when you're five, caring teachers, and overall, a positive experience. However, that suddenly changed just two weeks before I was supposed to start the third grade. My school had closed due to bankruptcy. I was heartbroken, knowing I would probably never see a majority of my friends again. With the sudden change happening so close to the beginning of a school year, it did not leave my mom much time to find a new school for my sister and I. Funny thing is, is that just down the opposite end of the street of my now former school, there happened to be another private elementary school. We toured it for a day while they were finishing up "Vacation Bible School" or "VBS", and my mom saw enough to want to enroll my sister and I. That quickly changed as the true character of certain students were exposed when met with new people lurking on "their territory". I remember it so vividly. I became friends with this wonderful person named Laura. She treated me, along with everyone else, with such kindness. I thought I had hit the jackpot. I found a friend so quickly, who also introduced me to her other friends. Except not all of Laura's friends were so kind to the newcomer. She had long, red hair, hazel eyes, and an immense amount of freckles that were almost perfectly placed on her face. She became the villain in my fairytale, always calling me names, shoving me into the wall, and making other remarks that baffled me.
Whether it was something about my physical appearance or the way I talked, she vilified me till it became too much. After months of torment and an attempt to stick my hair into the pencil sharpener, I confessed to my mom what had been happening. She quickly took up a meeting with the principle and mother of the girl. Outraged, my mom demanded that the girl be punished for what she had done. She received a leisurely lecture on the affects of bullying and how God would be ashamed of her behavior. After that, she went on her merry way, almost completely melancholy about what had happened. She stopped for about two months, but that apparently made life too boring so she came back even harder. The physical abuse aspect became a favorite, and at that point I had, had enough. My mom was tired of the school not doing anything so at the end of the fourth grade, I transferred to the school district that I am graduating from this spring. A public school where it did not matter how much money everyone's parents made and how that affected how you were treated. That school ruined my religious determination for so long, something that had been so important to me. It took a long time to heal the damage that girl and school caused, but I am currently the happiest I have ever been, and I have regained my love in God. So sometimes change is good, and sometimes it is bad. Adversity can happen at any time, just make sure you are paying attention.