“Starting over isn’t an easy task.” said Giselle Genus, a 16 year old who just moved from Long Island to Queens. “It’s harder than it looks.”
When Giselle first heard that she was moving from her town to queens she was not very excited. “Freeport is all I know,” she said, “When my parents told me that I had to move I just stood there. I walked away without saying a word. I couldn’t understand why we had to move me now, when i am in HIGH SCHOOl!”
It was her 10th grade year when she had to move. It was a huge change for her because she just started high school and all her friends that she has known since middle school were there. The ironic thing is Giselle was born in Queens but had no relation to her home town because her parents moved when she was an infant. Her school was close knit, just like most schools on Long Island. Freeport was her world. Nowhere else mattered. Her school was friendly and she made lots of friends. The teachers were cool and down to earth, and most of all the school lunch wasn’t too bad either. She felt as if she was losing a part of her identity.
Her family had to move because they wanted to be closer to their extended family, but Giselle it just meant new neighborhood, new school, new friends and a new life. “It’s like my parents didn’t consider me when they were making the decision to move,” Giselle said,”They considered their own feelings.” Even Giselle’s brother, a 15 year old at Freeport High school felt the same way. They were leaving their life behind.
Few months into their new school Giselle began to feel at home. “The school i attend now is called Benjamin Cardozo. 15o0 to 2000 students go here of all races. I love it but it is not as good as Freeport,” Giselle said. On her first day she started to make new friends. Her method was smile and Wave. ”All i did was tell a few jokes and people started laughing,” Giselle likes her school and still visits her friends on Long Island. “Just because i don’t live there, “she said, “Doesn’t mean i can’t visit them. Every chance i get i go to Long Island. Its still home.” Giselle loves her block because according to her its “live.”She also likes the teachers who have bipolar personalities according to her and the school lunch is “ok”.
Giselle realized that move wasn’t as bad as she thought. “All i needed to do was relax,” she said. Now she has new friends and live couldn’t be better. “My motto is change isn’t easy. It took me a long time to get use to my neighborhood and my neighbors. I had to get use to the school, teachers and students. I was resistant at first but then i embraced it and now i love it,”Giselle said, “Like the saying says when life throws you lemons you make lemonade.”
My name is Stacyann Nathan and i am 16 years old. I was born in Jamaica, Queens on November 9. I currently live in Baldwin where i attend Baldwin Senior high school located in Nassau County, Long Island. I have been writing since i was a child and always had a passion for it. I write my school newspaper and i help create a yearbook for the graduating class. In my spare I love to sing, dance and spend time with my friends and Family. I hope one day i will be able to work for a great journalism company. 