By Ryan Williams

Coming to a new school can be an emotional experience for anyone. You’re used to the hustle of a larger school and heard that a smaller school would be harder to fit into because of all the cliques at this new school. These were the thoughts that were going through Bailey Priborsky’s head when she transferred to Mount Vernon High School.

After her mother got remarried, Priborsky, a junior, and her family moved and thought that Mount Vernon High School would be a better option than Lisbon High School. Mount Vernon had better reviews that Priborsky had looked at and had also been closer to where she lives. Priborsky also said that Mount Vernon would have been a better fit for her overall. Priborsky previously attended a much larger school, Linn-Mar High School in Cedar Rapids.

Linn-Mar and Mount Vernon differ in many ways, one of the biggest is the schedule. Linn-Mar has a block schedule which is similar to the J-Term that Mount Vernon had this past January. Priborsky said that it was hard to adjust to a seven-period day at first. Priborsky said that she thought the idea of having seven different classes a day wasn’t ideal for her but over time the new schedule “grew” on her.

Another difference Priborsky explained was that people at Mount Vernon are much nicer than people at Linn-Mar. She said knowing everyone in the school makes it a better high school experience. She also said that teachers at Mount Vernon actually show concern about the performance of their students.

“It’s nice that the teachers here actually know each students name and ask them about your grade if you need help with anything.”

When Priborsky was at Linn-Mar, she played softball and ran track her freshman year. She was also involved in multiple clubs, two of which are SODA (Students Opposed to Drugs and Alcohol) and TRY (Teens Reaching Youth). Both of these groups were focussed around community service.

Priborsky said that she was really scared to come to Mount Vernon feeling that everyone here wouldn’t accept her because people in small schools have known each other since kindergarten and might not want to add someone to their friend group. At first she thought Mount Vernon would have been very “cliquey” and she stressed over not being able to find a group to associate with. Priborsky said, “I knew absolutely no one from Mount Vernon,” which makes it even harder to come to a new school.

Priborsky’s fears were subsided on the first day of school when she entered psychology class. She asked Kelsey Shady, a junior, if she could sit with her at a table. Shady befriended Priborsky right away and introduced her to Alyssa Maddocks, and from there they have become really close friends. “People here were actually really nice, I was surprised,” Priborsky said.

Priborsky got involved in yearbook and cheerleading at Mount Vernon after being convinced to try it by her friends. She said she never thought she would be good at cheerleading, but others seemed to think that she is, and she really enjoys doing it.

Priborsky said that Mount Vernon has been her favorite school that she has attended so far because of “the atmosphere and the people that are here as your friends and the amount of activities that you can get involved in.” Priborsky said that she does plan to graduate from Mount Vernon and does not plan on transferring.