How have you handled being the ‘new kid’?

    Everyone has experiences of being the new kid, as we all have moved from elementary to middle to high school, but in my opinion, the term “new kid”, is used to describe a complete stranger joining an already established social group. In the school situation, unless you moved to a different town, every time you move up a school level, there will always be at least a few of your friends that stay with you. Thus, even though you are the new kid at the school location-wise, socially, you are not actually new. 

    I was fortunate to experience being the socially new kid only once, when I moved from China to Champaign, Illinois, USA, in 2014. However, making friends and fitting in becomes quite a bit harder when you come from the other side of the world and barely speak the language.

    I don’t remember much about my first day at Garden Hills, my elementary school, as it was about 10 years ago. I don’t think I felt scared, a nervous maybe. I was pretty shy back then, so I doubt I said much…well I barely spoke English, so even if I wasn’t shy, I still wouldn’t have said much. There were a few Chinese Americans in my class. One of the assistant teachers spoke Chinese, and I think two of my classmates were able to as well (one of them being Evan Wang of our senior class). 

    I obviously couldn’t make any friends not knowing the language, but that being said, I also didn’t make any enemies…well, except for one. 

    I won’t say his name, but during recess one day, probably a month or two after I arrived, he kicked me for no reason (at least that I remember). Obviously, I did the only reasonable thing and kicked him back. Neither of our kicks were that hard but unfortunately, a teacher saw us and we got in trouble. 

    I’m not sure if it was pity, or they just disliked that guy as well, but everyone in my class defended me, allowing me to get off scot free while he got in a lot more trouble. I think that was the first time I felt being a part of the class, as usually I would just be alone in the corner doing Rosetta Stone, but here everyone defended me and helped me not get in trouble.

    These are some experiences I had as the “new kid”. However, in terms of what actions I took to handle, and ultimately stop being the new kid, I don’t really remember. The only “tactic” I do remember, and I still do so to make friends today, is just to participate in my interests. 

    The 2014 World Cup had just ended when I arrived at the US, and if you read my previous blog post about soccer, you would know it was this tournament that got me to adore soccer. When I started 3rd grade, I noticed there would be a large group of students playing soccer everyday. One day, I just joined them and started playing, and that was how I made some of my first friends. Some other common interest I had with my classmates during this time were bey-blades, anime, and later comic books. 

    This’ll sound really cheesy, but I truly believe the easiest way to make friends and fit in is to be yourself. Though I say it is easy comparatively, I know still how hard it is to not only fit in but feel like you belong based on experience. That’s why nowadays, I always try to be kind and understanding to the new “new kids”, as I want to pass forward the kindness my third grade classmates showed me.