Ups and Downs of Being New to Needham and Starting High School in a Pandemic

Hi reader,

You probably do not know me, but my name is Hadas and I am a freshman at NHS this year. Over the summer, I moved from Seattle, WA, to here, Needham, MA. Not only did I start this school year online, but I also started it with no previous knowledge of the school curriculum or of my peers in my grade. It sounds worse than it is. I admit that there have been many challenges, but that is not to say that there haven’t been many successes and learning experiences. I wanted to share some of those with you.

Firstly, to start off on a good note, the successes. So far I have made new friends and even have people to sit with at lunch. While that may not seem like a big deal to some, I can tell you that sitting alone in the cafeteria is not a lot of fun. Even though it took some effort and stepping out of my comfort zone to speak to new people, I do not regret doing so. Having people you know, or even familiar faces, really made a difference with how I look at each day and the experiences during my in-person learning. Maybe other freshmen can relate, but walking the halls, especially in your first few weeks of school, can be a little intimidating. So another one of my successes was finding at least one person in each class that I could walk with to my next class. Overall, the community here is a lot nicer, more welcoming and more supportive than what I could have hoped for, and I look forward to continuing my high school years here. 

Now, while there have been a lot of positive aspects, there have also been some not so great moments. For example, participating in class has not been easy, considering I do not know most of my peers, and in some classes I am not fully caught up on the material. In different parts of the country there are different curriculums, and so moving to a new state means that sometimes you are ahead in some subjects and behind in others. This year, it is hard to catch up on some of the material I am behind on since the learning and material itself is so different this year than it usually is.  Also, being new and learning in a hybrid model has been challenging. As soon as I get comfortable with my cohort, I get put into breakout rooms with people from the other cohort whom I do not know and have to repeat the awkwardness of the beginning all over again. While the students here are very friendly, most of them do not have their cameras on, which makes breakout rooms and group discussion online scary. Being new during this special year makes it hard to get to know people since I only get to see a small portion of them at a time. 

Then, of course, there is the obvious reason why being new to Needham this year has been challenging -- Covid. In regular years, day to day life would look different. This year everyone wears masks, which makes it hard not only for people to identify me, but also for me to identify them. Additionally, there are only half of the people in my cohort. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because smaller classes take a little of the pressure off, but also bad because I get to meet fewer people. Covid has also restricted other things. For example, social distancing -- which is crucial -- has made it hard for me to have one-on-one conversations with others. Not only is it hard to hear and understand what they are saying, but it feels as though I am talking across a room. I guarantee that in every conversation I have, at least once each of us has to ask “what?” or “can you say that again?” Because of Covid, it is very noticeable that people tend to stay in their close friend groups and are less likely to talk to people whom they do not know. Which means that most interactions I have are very short since people prefer to stay in pods with those they already know. 

This letter was not written in order to make it seem as though people here are anything less than welcoming, but Covid and this year in general have been a rough time for everyone. I wanted to share my experience of starting high school in a pandemic while also being new to Needham. I hope that this can shed some perspective on this year for some and for others a source of relatability. 

Thank you for taking the time to read it!

- Hadas Duchin