Thank you, NHS.

Thank you for welcoming me with open arms. Thank you for helping me see the world through yet another set of lenses. Thank you for allowing me to make friends on my first day of school in Indiana.

Thank you, for making the role of “new kid” so much easier.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m originally from Saginaw, Michigan. I went to a small Catholic school through sixth grade, and I was surrounded by family, friends and my faith. Life was good.

Spring of 2010 came around, and my father was transferred to west Tennessee. We moved to a foreign land where we knew nobody and nothing. I went to a public school for the first time and was surrounded by people who thought the only way to success was by stabbing their best friends in the back. My seventh and eighth grade years were absolutely brutal, and there were days where I felt like I had to stoop to their low standards in order to lose the outsider label (read: Yankee) that had been slapped on my forehead. I had had enough and begged my parents to let me attend school somewhere else.

My parents saw how miserable I was and transferred me to a small Christian school for my freshman year. There, I found close friends, a stronger faith and teachers that cared about more than test scores. I grew closer to my family and discovered what it meant to invest time and hard work into my future.

I left Tennessee in June of 2013, and #millershifted my way to Noblesville. Sophomore year came, and I dreaded starting school with more people than the Doctor McCaffrey can shake a stick at. I was sure that I would never find friends and become the loner wallflower, especially if this new school was going to be as god-awful as the last public school.

That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. I fell in love with a school that offered me so much; I had my #educationredefined by having so many AP and ACP classes to choose from, I had tons of social groups I could float between and the opportunities for success and fulfilling my passion seemed endless. NHS has helped me find myself, find my passion for writing and fall in love with who I am. I grew from a girl who struggled to embrace herself into someone who can get along with anyone and do anything I set my mind to.

So, here’s to the #newkids at NHS: I promise it’ll get better. You will find friends. You will develop close relationships with one or two teachers who you’ll stay in contact with them past graduation. You will find your passion and want to run with it. You will want to be someone great.

And you know what?

You will be.