Transfer students are becoming an increasingly visible part of our school community, bringing new perspectives, experiences, and challenges with them. Whether they arrive at the start of the school year or mid-semester, these students must quickly adjust to unfamiliar classrooms, social circles, and expectations. While some find it easy to settle into their new environment, others face obstacles that often go unnoticed. As enrollment shifts and mobility between schools increases, understanding the experiences of transfer students has become more important than ever.
Junior, Augustine Tessier who is a transfer student who lived in the northern part of France, near Germany elaborated, “I get asked all the time what made me want to do the exchange program, and I just wanted to do it. I kind of wanted to escape and get out of my comfort zone and learn from a different culture,” she further said. “I saw a lot of videos about exchange students on Tiktok and I really wanted to do that and experience that for myself, I had to choose between my top five countries that I wanted to go to, and I was really lucky and I got my first choice.” Augustine was much happier with the weather here in Arizona than the weather in France. “During the winter it’s pretty awful, and it rains all the time, sometimes we have rain for weeks at a time.” Augustine’s favorite food to snack on was usually brioche. The schooldays in France are wildly different from our typical school days, in France the school days are from 8 am in the morning and end at 6 pm at night, but they have an hour long break for lunch, whereas our school days start at 7 am and end around 2 pm.
A senior, Cecilia Valentini, who is a transfer student from Italy, mentioned that there are technically five years of high school for their high school students. “You choose a subject that you want to learn, and the school gives you a schedule you can choose a classic; like Latin, Greek, or like Italian letters. Or you can choose something scientific with math.” Unlike American classes where each year your schedule changes, in Italy, you spend the five years with the same group of students that are interested in your subjects. Her favorite food to eat in Italy was pizza with potato, and her favorite thing to eat in the US is hamburger.
Senora Rios is one of Perry’s Spanish teachers who helps run the exchange student program and helps the exchange students feel more comfortable here at Perry.
