What’s up Fairfax County Public Schools, I’m back.  

In September 2007, I was so nervous to start my first day of kindergarten at Bailey’s Elementary school. What if I don’t make friends? What if I end up hating school? Little did i know i’d miss being in FCPS. When i began to move around alot after elementary school.

In the summer between my eighth grade and freshman year, I moved to Congress Heights, Southeast DC. It was as if I was in a different world. There were no more SOL tests and no more wearing casual clothes to school. I was confined to a uniform everyday; the repetitive and bland khaki matched with a gray polo shirt.

My first day at Frank W. Ballou High school was stressful. Walking into school, I had to take my shoes, belt, jacket and accessories off. This was just so I could walk through the metal detector. If the detector rang, I would be patted down and searched.

While at Ballou I immediately noticed how the district didn’t really care what happened to the students at Ballou. Although Ballou wasn’t known for academics, they are well known for their football team. Football season was always incredibly fun. Another difference I noticed was that DC schools always had something going on. Every week there would be an assembly or some sort of celebration or field trip. I will never forget the time when Rico Nasty performed at our school.

My favorite part about Ballou were the students. They always remained positive and energetic even when our neighborhood was on the news for something tragic. Everyone gives Southeast DC a bad reputation but trust me when I say that the people that I got to know while living there are some of the realist and most fun people I’ve ever met. Shout out to Big Bad Ballou.

My time at Ballou ended after freshman year. I moved to Georgia Avenue in Northwest DC. I started my 10th grade year at Cardozo Education Campus in Columbia Heights. There were still metal detectors and uniforms but they weren’t enforced as strictly. The school was more diverse with fifty-six percent of the school Hispanic, forty-three percent Black and two percent Asian demographic. Unlike Ballou, Cardozo was known for soccer and their academics. However, Cardozo was also known for gang activity and even a violent rivalry with the neighboring high school, Roosevelt High school.                                                                                                                                                          After only being at Cardozo for four months my parents decided the city was not for them and we moved back to Fairfax County. They decided to enroll me to AHS since I already knew many people here.

My first day at AHS was confusing. I had to get up at six in the morning instead of eight in the morning. I wore whatever I wanted and didn’t have to go through a metal detector nor did I have to turn in my phone for the day. The thing that confused me the most was that classes were quiet instead of loud and out of control. There weren’t dozens of police officers in the building and they trusted students with laptops when in DC the public laptops were often stolen or broken..

It was also my first time moving in the middle of the school year. I didn’t make friends as fast as I usually did at other schools and it was strange being the only person getting lost in school or having to remind teachers that I was new and didn’t know what they were talking about. AHS is incredibly different from high schools in DC. It’s not better then my old schools because both Ballou and Cardozo were incredibly fun and I had the best time at those schools. It’s just different. This is the first high school I’ve gone to with more than 5 elective options and the students here are really lucky to have so many options.

There was one prominent theme between the students in FCPS and in DCPS. Surprisingly, they listened to the same rappers. Although the two counties are really close to each other physically, there are still a lot of differences. I’m happy here but I’ll never forget the memories I made in DC. I made my way back in FCPS, where I first started.