Roden 1

Elizabeth Roden
Peter Blair
Inquiry Assignment #1
December 6, 2014
Just A Small-Town Girl
There is no other experience quite like changing high schools, and nothing quite like
moving to one that is in another state. How about moving from one that held so many people
that you couldn't think straight to one where everyone knew everyone and no secrets could be
buried? Yeah, that happened to me. The extreme change in high school lifestyle was one that I
could never forget. I learned how to completely transform my lifestyle to fit into a small
town. By changing from two drastically different schools, undergoing a breakup, and
experiencing small high school life, I learned about a new culture that enlightened me to
view the world in a contrasting way.
In the summer before my sophomore year in high school, I moved from one of the
biggest schools in the state of Oklahoma to a tiny high school nestled in small-town
Hendersonville, North Carolina. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Union's school system was so large that it
would make your head spin. There were twelve elementary schools, a sixth and seventh grade
center, an eighth grade center, a ninth grade center, a high school for sophomores and juniors,
and a newly built senior center. Each class ranged from 1500 to 2000 students. Hendersonville
high school, on the other hand, was in the basic elementary, middle, and high school system. The
school is unable to expand because the piece of land that it was built on in 1904 happens to be
surrounded by roads, businesses, and neighborhood, so it will always remain the 800 student
capacity it is today.
My sophomore year began riding the bus to school. I was wearing one of my nice firstday-of-school outfits that I had recently bought for this occasion. A simple blue dress with shiny

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sandles: a normal first day of school outfit at Union. Immediately when we pulled up to the old,
brick building, I already felt out of place. I saw students clad in Birkenstocks, Chacos, and
flannels for days. Birkenstocks are the hippie slide-on sandals that are unbelievably ugly,
and Chacos are all-terrain mountain sandals that could second for Jesus sandals. Not the
typical attire where I came from. Some of these people looked like they were ready for a day of
hiking and I might as well have been ready for homecoming. Unwillingly, I stepped off the bus. I
could feel eyes prodding me, wondering who I was. At a school this size, new people were
something to marvel over like a shiny new toy. Throughout the day, I was constantly being asked
questions. What grade are you in? Where are you from? Oklahoma? Do you know any
Indians? Are you Indian? Nobody ever asked what my name was. I guess it traveled around
school so fast that everyone knew it by the end of first period. At Union, new kids went
unnoticed. If they were noticed, they were treated exactly like everyone else. To many people at
Union, half of their English class was new kids, meaning nothing was out of the ordinary.
At least everyone was friendly towards me, mainly because I was new. I remember
my first day was intimidating. Everyone was herded into the auditorium for the First Day
of School Announcement. Every class had their own section, and of course, as
underclassmen, the sophomores were tossed to the side. I found an empty seat, and as I was
sitting down in the plush, red chair, a girl that was a few seats down kindly introduced
herself.
Youre new, arent you? My names Anna. Anna was a gorgeous brunette.
Automatically, I assumed that she was well liked. Where are you from?
Im Elizabeth. Oklahoma. I replied. I instantly liked this girl.
Wow! Thats a long way away. Youll enjoy Hendersonville. Its a great little
school. Before she could get much more out, a giggling group of girls sat down around her.
Definitely well liked, I thought. She raised her voice to talk over her loud friends, Hey

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guys, meet Elizabeth. Shes new. Her friends turned around and introduced themselves,
and I instantly forgot all of their names. Before we could talk more, the announcements
started. I felt much more at ease my first day, thanks to Anna. Being friendly to a stranger
is good karma.
Union didn't really have cliques. There were just the people who you could put a face and
a name to, and everyone else. It was much different at Hendersonville. There was every clique
ranging from rednecks to rich girls to ukelele-playing hippies. I learned quickly that people here
weren't as accepting to new comers as I once thought. Anna was friendly, but that didnt
mean I could instantly be her friend. She always hung out with the same group of loud
girls, and that was intimidating to me. It was like every clique was predetermined for every
person from the time of kindergarten, and newcomers were on their own.
I found my home with the students who were different at everything they did. I believe I
gravitated towards them because I was so used to not having a label at Union, and I wanted
something familiar. I met a few girls from art class who invited me to have lunch with them
one day, and I hung out with them ever since. They always sat outside, in front of the main
entrance, to eat lunch. There was a big group of them, at least twenty kids. All of them
were had different personalities, rocked different styles, and were interested in different
things. I think that this is what I liked best about this group, because nobody was
influencing the way they lived life. This is similar to the friends I had in Union, because my
friends didnt have a specific style that they were conformed to, and everyone lived life
on their own agenda. This reminded me of my Oklahoma friends, so I felt comfortable with
them.
One of the biggest changes of all was the rate of snooping in a small school. Since
everyone knew everyone since they were in diapers, it was fairly common for them to know the
darker details of their peer's lives. It starts with one friend who, blinded by a false sense of

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security, tells another person a secret in confidence. That person goes and tells another: Don't
say anything because I wasn't supposed to tell you. Yet that other person says something
anyway, and from there on it is just a cycle. Soon enough the whole school knows and that one
person must deal with the shame until another topic of interest takes over. This was the neverending cycle at the school I moved to. Most people were intrusive and masked their concern for
pure nosiness. I would hear some crazy stories about Sally who would perform sexual favors
before school at the abandoned house two streets over. Sally missed school for the next few days
after the whole school heard about it. Of course, there will always be gossip and rumors no
matter where you move to. Union's gossip usually didn't leave a certain group of people, and if it
did, it was usually an extremely twisted rumor so most of it was hard to believe. However, the
degree of boredom at such a small school makes the process ten times faster, and it is more
likely for the whole school to know your dirty little secret than just a group of people.
I kept my head down to avoid these types of people, however I was still noticeable. I
began to hear rumors about myself junior year. My high school boyfriend and I had recently
broken up, and soon after I began receiving questions like, Is it true that you and Bryan broke
up because he cheated on you? Not true, I would think. Bryan and I started dating second
semester my sophomore year. All it took was the relationship to become facebook official
for the whole school to know about it in less than an hour. It was a fun relationship, at first,
in the high school level type of way. Movie dates, double dates, football game dates it
became a cycle of dates. There were no problems between us, and no one else was involved,
as far as I knew. I became increasingly bored with our repetitive routine, so I cut it off.
Bryan was upset with the breakup, but he understood. After all, it was only a young and
immature relationship.
Other people took our breakup more seriously than Bryan and I did. Everyone was
convinced that there was some super-secret, intense drama brewing between us and that

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we hated each other. Being in a class with Bryan didn't help either. We were always receiving
awkward stares from onlookers. People I didn't even know very well would ask about us.
Isn't it weird being in the same class with him?
I just sighed and said No, we're still friendly. It became annoying for me to continue
telling people over and over what had really happened between us. We just lost interest, I
would say, however I was still blasted with questions like I wasn't telling the whole truth. Well
someone told me that you caught Bryan with another girl in his car. Are you sure that you
just lost interest? I rolled my eyes at that. Fed up, I said, You should really stop
listening to rumors, and mind your own business. Eventually, talk of me and Bryan died
in the cycle of small-school rumors, and new piece of juicy gossip took our place.
I think the problem that people have with a new culture is that it is disorienting,
and people dont like the idea of change. Most people like consistency and they will do what it
takes for a sense of familiarity. For example, I settled with a group of people that reminded me
of my friends from home. I wanted something that made me comfortable in the new and
overwhelming experience. These people accepted me and reminded me of life in Oklahoma.
From these people, I learned how to enjoy life in North Carolina. I saw their small and peaceful
town through their eyes and began to love it just as much as they did. After school strolls on
Main Street became a staple throughout high school. I became more adventurous in the outdoors
and hiked almost every weekend.
I became more experienced with the new town that I was living in. I memorized the
quaint little shops on Main Street that were filled with nick-knacks that only older people with
money would buy. I learned where the cops always sat, waiting for an overly speedy driver to
zoom by so they could meet their monthly quota. I became more familiar with the school and the
teachers in it. Mrs. Flexon would yell Take your hat off! or No backpacks in the
hallway! at any kid whole happened to cross paths with her wearing one of these. Don't eat

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the spaghetti, or the sloppy Joes... or the burritos. And positively get to know and befriend the
resource officer. He gives out free candy to the people he likes. I would stop by his office with
a few friends of mine almost every day when school let out, and we would exchange
sarcastic and playful comments towards each other. I became one of his favorites in high
school, and he always had caramel hard candies in his pocket that he sneaked to me if I
passed him in the hallway.
One must open their eyes to different viewpoints and possibilities. For me, I came from a
large school and a city with more activities available on-hand. Moving to a small town made me
enjoy nature and the quiet more. I learned to love nature, and love Hendersonville. I engaged
myself, and began to see the beauty of the little things like the natives did. Nature,
peacefulness, and Main streets coffee shop are all little things that outsiders would take
for granted, and being open minded made me see life in a different way. Watching the
people who have never left the culture that I am alien to definitely helped me in placing myself
in their shoes. To gain a global literacy, I think this is the most important thing. To obtain a
greater understanding, watch closely, listen, and experience what they experience on a daily
basis. The culture will reward you with enlightenment and understanding for their civilization.