By Eric ’25
Hi everyone! My name is Eric, and when I stepped onto this campus for the first day of school, I was definitely nervous. As a new seventh grader, I had absolutely no idea what the future had in store for me. However, my fears turned out to be misplaced. As I approached the Horn Commons, I was greeted by many familiar faces, as well as some new friends I had made before school started. But what really put me at ease was that everyone was happy. The conversation that filled the air was wholly positive, and I knew I could relax.
Welcome to Harvard-Westlake! I’m very excited to get to meet many of you in the coming years. Some of you may be feeling excitement of an unparalleled magnitude, and some might simply be confused about this whole process. But I am mostly certain that nearly all of you are feeling a little bit nervous. I can assure you that there is no need to be feeling this way.
Harvard-Westlake is a very welcoming and accepting community. Going to a completely different campus caused a million questions to filter through my head. Would I make any friends? Was school going to be stressful? However, despite this unfamiliar setting, I found myself continuing to gravitate towards unfamiliar faces, many of which I encountered in my classes. And very soon, I had made my first friends, and all my fears were forgotten.
I suppose the key takeaway from this is to be bold. Maybe you’d be the only one from your school, or perhaps there will be dozens of others who come with you. Either way, don’t be nervous about being yourself at Harvard-Westlake, to go out on a limb and meet new people. This is a place where everyone is welcome.
