By Gabby Sahm
Staff Writer

High school is tough. With all the different level classes and extracurricular activities students are taking these days, they barely have time to breathe. Think about how stressful it would be to transfer to a totally new high school just after your freshman year.

Sophomores Mary Lou Guevara, Kassie Morlet and Serena Bulone all know what it is like.

“I thought it was a better place for myself at first,” Guevara said. “Then I realized that Coppell High School might be a better fit because of the academies.”

They all liked the learning style of New Tech High@Coppell as well as the relaxing vibe it gave off, and the distributed Apple laptops did not hurt either. After careful consideration, they decided that CHS had more to offer.

“I thought being in the [Public Service Academy] would help more in the future, and it looks good on college applications,” Bulone said.

After talking it over with their parents, they signed the papers and transferred. Guevara and Bulone liked the idea of coming to CHS because they wanted to be in the PSA Academy as they aspire to work in the medical field. Morlet, on the other hand, wanted to come because she thought it would be a better learning experience.

“I wanted to get away from using technology for everything and anything,” Morlet said.

Once at CHS, they noticed there were distinct differences between the two schools. CHS, in comparison, has roughly 2,500 more students than New Tech. Since there are more students, that means more personalities which can also be hard to adjust to.

“It’s so much more crowded, and I’m always scared that I might get lost because of how much bigger this school is,” Guevara said.

Teachers also have problems deciding which school to work at. Mr. Lee, a spanish 3 teacher here at CHS, has worked at both New Tech and CHS. He started at CHS, worked here for six years, then changed to New Tech when it opened. After working there for four year, he came back to CHS last year. He said he missed the nice environment CHS had to offer.

Even though he is back at CHS, he still uses the project based learning that New Tech had. Now that he is back at CHS, he doesn’t regret changing schools.

“I love trying to inspire students with language at both schools,” Lee said. “It doesn’t matter where it’s happening.”

After being at school for three weeks, the girls all are starting to have some regrets about transferring, and the iPads are playing a major role in this. After having their very own laptop for a year, it is hard to get used to something so different.

“I really don’t like the iPads, they are so much harder to use and don’t always work right,” Morlet said.

New Tech has more project based learning classes, whereas at CHS, students have much more individual work.

“Classes here are much easier, because we aren’t doing random projects all the time,” Bulone said.

When they look back at their freshman year, they realize they miss a lot about New Tech. They made some great friendships, and met some great teachers that they miss dearly. Also they miss the independence they got at New Tech. Each student got their own trust card that lets them go out of class and work in other areas of the school.

Even though each girl misses New Tech, only one is planning on transferring back. Guevara has thought about it, and wants to stay for the academy classes. Bulone is not sure what she is going to do yet, but Morlet hopes to transfer back as early as next semester.