Honey, I'm Home- Lindsey Speyer
That feeling of walking into a room and feeling dozens of eyes on you. Ah, that’s the feeling of being the new girl. I am so happy that I made it to Harpeth Hall, but it was not an easy or direct route to get here. Between 7th and 10th grade, I attended three different schools. No, I did not switch schools because I was bullied, and yes, I did have friends at all of these schools. I just really loved Harpeth Hall and was determined to be a girl in a green plaid skirt with one of those cool laptops that lets you write on the screen. Yes, I really thought that your 2010 Lenovos were brilliant, cutting edge technology.
I was one of the Oak Hill kids. After elementary school, I assumed I was going to Harpeth Hall. But because I apparently was not in the upper tier of my sixth grade class and didn’t get in, I decided to go to Ensworth. Thinking back on this, I’m pretty sure I picked Ensworth because they gave me an “E Cookie” and a little plastic football on my tour. However, Ensworth was just not the place for me. I don’t know if it was my lack of spirit for the oranges and blacks on field day or during PE, but something made me feel like I should keep looking for a school that made me happier. Yes, I applied to Harpeth Hall for eighth grade, and, yes, I got deferred again. So, next stop was Brentwood Academy. I really liked BA a lot more than the previous school, and I stayed there for two years. Wow, a whole two years! I had great friends there, some of whom I still see on a regular basis. I assumed I would graduate from BA until I realized I was still jealous of my friends that got to go to a school like Harpeth Hall. I was disappointed in myself for not being good enough to get in to Harpeth Hall, so I worked hard to excel in my schoolwork. I was determined to get accepted into this school because I believed it was the right fit for me. I guess Mrs. Hill was tired of seeing my application for the third time, so the administration finally let me in. So, sophomore year came around and I found myself at my third year of new student orientations, but this time for a school I was truly excited to attend. Being the new kid at Harpeth Hall was by far the easiest transition for me. Of course, attending Oak Hill helped a lot because I knew twenty or so girls off the bat. However, many of the people who helped me the most were girls in my class I had never met before. They helped me figure out how to use this weird new laptop, how to navigate through the buildings to find my classes, and how to read my schedule. I’m pretty sure that I have mentally blocked all of the embarrassing things I did as the new girl at my three schools I’ve attended, because while brainstorming for this speech, I can only think of two recent tragedies that occurred during my time as a student.
The first happened when the Bear Cave, full of students, needed to test my speakers. To do so, they pulled up my YouTube history and clicked on the song “Cooking by the Book Remix by Lazy Town and Lil Jon” and I had to stand there awkwardly while this weird explicit remix played on full volume for the entire room to hear. More recently, upon deciding to sign the wall for Auburn in the senior house, I got overwhelmed with the large amount of people behind me cheering and watching. Apparently I’m not great under pressure, because I spelled Auburn wrong in Sharpie on the wall of the senior house. I’m sorry Mrs. Meltesen, because it’s a very easy word to spell, yet, I found a way to misspell it. I then proceeded to cover over it with the wrong shade of pink, and “A-U-R-B: Aurb” still shines through. Thinking back on these incidents, it’s nice to know I haven’t lost any friends over my embarrassing mistakes. It’s comforting to know that I can make a few mistakes next year at college without being totally isolated.
These few years at Harpeth Hall have been so much fun and I have definitely not taken for granted. Though very difficult, the academic workload here was refreshing. I had never attended a school where the majority of the students wanted to learn and wanted to do well. I was used to my friends bragging about how low they scored on a quiz or how little they studied. Even if we do not appreciate it now, Harpeth Hall is teaching us discipline, which will help us excel in college. This, of course, made my sophomore year very stressful. I did not know how to study, and I’m surprised that I even passed Mrs. Higgins’s chemistry class. If I had not switched to this school, I probably would still think that reading over my notes once will score me an A on all of my college exams. For those of you scared about going to college and being the new kid: it’s really not that bad. I’ve done it three times, I’ve survived, and it’s made me realize more about myself. Joining a new community in college will be so refreshing and good for all of us. Yes, this is cliché, but be thankful for your school. It’s really easy to complain about the workload, a lunch bar you might not like, our Lenovos, the dress code, or the abundance of demerits, but spend one week at another school in this area and you will realize how lucky we are to be here.