When Lauren Comella first walked through the front doors of Free State near the end of her junior year, her initial thought was that the school was a bit bigger than the little Kansas school she had imagined.
Before coming to Free State, Comella attended eight different schools, lived in nine different states and moved ten times. Comella, a senior, has participated in cross country, forensics, debate, the Black Box theater production and plays on a lacrosse team in Kansas City in the little time she’s lived in Lawrence.
“You’re always afraid you’re not going to make friends or you won’t fit it, those are my first initial thoughts [when I go to a new school],” Comella said. “Everyone was welcoming [at Free State] and [wanted] to meet the new kid which I hadn’t always experienced when moving to a new school.”
Comella’s father is the main reason of her various moves. Her father is a human resources manager and whenever he gets a promotion or a new job somewhere else, they get up and go to a new location.
“Most recently I came from Arrowhead [High School] [in] Hartland Wisconsin, Comella said. “My dad got a job in Topeka and he said that the Topeka schools were pretty crappy. So he put me here in Lawrence which is an awesome place to live.”
Being the new kid can be hard for anyone, but by the eighth time to a new school, Comella has the process down to an art form. Comella involves herself into extracurriculars or sports in and out of school. Comella had come to Kansas from Wisconsin where she played field hockey, lacrosse, and boxed.
“[In different schools] you want to be to yourself, you don’t want to have an opinion,” Comella said. “[When you’re the new kid] you just want to float around and get what you need to get done but when I moved here everyone was so nice and welcoming, I tried a bunch of new things. A lot of extra curriculars I did at Free State I’ve never tried before.”
Two days into Comella’s year at Free State, she recalls her first experience of adjusting into the new school.
“I walked into English class and right away [Kerrie Leinmiller-Renick] walked up to me, introduced herself, and sat me down right next to her,” Comella said. “I thought she was a teacher at first because she was just spitting off all this information, [now] she’s one of my best friends here. She introduced me to a whole group of friends that I have now.”
Contrary to what she’s used to, Free State was one of the easier transitions Comella experienced. Though graduating this year, Comella still has to endure one more transition to college.
Now walking through Free State’s front doors everyday, Comella achieves what some might call impossible, she’s excited to go to school.
“I’m actually pretty happy to come to school in the mornings, to see people, and the classes are fun,” Comella said. “ I think [moving here] was a pretty cool transition but mostly because people at Free State were so nice. Doing different things actually helped me meet a lot of people, [and] a lot of cool friends that I have [now].
