I’ve [lived in] five states. I like Michigan because there’s so much to do — just exploring everywhere. I think the best thing about moving around is that you get to see a lot of things, and you kind of get used to being the new kid a lot. It’s a nice thing. One thing I’ve found about traveling so much is that I don’t like to stay in one place all the time. I like to move around.

The first day of school is always scary because you don’t know anyone. So, it’s just weird. But I like it here. I like the people here; they’re all really nice. It’s different from my school in St Louis. Everyone says it’s really cliquey here, but I felt like my old school was way [more] cliquey. Here, I can kind of move around between everybody because I know a lot of people in [my] grade. It’s not as cliquey as other groups where if you don’t know the people, you don’t talk to them and they don’t talk to you.

[Moving] can be frustrating at times. You can get frustrated — like all these people have had friends for years, and I don’t have those same connections. You’ll have [friendships] where you can’t really get in between them. So, [moving allows me] to meet a lot of different people and see a lot more of the country, which is cool. And I mean, when you go to college, you get to meet whole new people, so it kind of prepares you for that.

(Junior)