Elahe's Final Centner Thoughts

I have been at Centner Academy for the past five years, starting two pivotal years in my life here; my first year of middle school and my first year of high school. Centner has definitely been a constant in my life as I have grown and changed over the years, creating an environment I will wholeheartedly miss once I leave. What sticks with me the most is the support and close-knit community that I’ve become closer with as time has gone by, almost like a second home. I feel like this is mostly special because the strength of this community is something that can only be formed when you stay at the same place for such an extended period of time. Not only have I been here for numerous years, but I have also spent some of my most formative years inside the walls of Centner Academy.

My experience at Centner has been different because my first year here was during the pandemic, which resulted in a relatively chaotic environment. Some students were attending class online, while at the same time the teacher had to focus on the students that were physically present as well. At that time, our class was still on the larger side, with about 25 of us in the sixth grade. It was also Centner’s first year incorporating a middle school, so there were a lot of changes we had to undergo as first-time students. Just compared to the schools many of us had gone to before entering middle school, it was definitely an adjustment to start incorporating morning meditations and sound healing sessions that both seemed endless, but now I can understand their importance. This school allowed me to understand how the application of just simple breathing exercises when day to day experiences would leave me overwhelmed was an incredibly helpful tool I wouldn’t have discovered without this type of education. On another note, not only was the irregular school environment an adjustment, but more negatively, losing more than half of our students after the first year and having a revolving door of teachers for the following two years also took some time to adapt to. What started out as an exciting chapter in my life shifted into a more negative period because of the uncertainty that came with these unexpected adjustments.

While that was just my chaotic start to middle school, I always thought my freshman year would mimic that stress of entering the youngest grade all over again, but that wasn’t the case. At that point, I had already been at Centner for four years, and what used to be a strange and new environment was now somewhere I felt secure and safe. Though this is a positive aspect, it isn’t very consistent with the usual anxiety that comes with starting high school, and I didn't really feel like I was embarking on that pivotal chapter in my life. Since starting at Centner, I’d always thought about transferring to another school, not because I was unhappy, but because I was under the impression that the more sheltered environment was “missing something” I was supposed to get out of my last year of middle school, and later the beginning of high school. As I moved up grade levels, my relationships with the people around me, from students to teachers and faculty, continued to grow and strengthen, making the idea of inevitably leaving much harder to entertain. I struggled with the wanting for something new and more challenging, yet I couldn’t picture myself anywhere but Centner.

What I came to realize is that Centner wasn’t missing anything, because it was perfect for those years of my life. The sheltered, colorful “bubble” was great when I needed to feel supported, comfortable and develop confidence, but now, I feel like I’ve outgrown that environment, and I’m ready for the metaphorical next chapter of my life to start. So with that, I think I couldn’t have become the person I am today without Centner Academy, and I think being a Mighty Bee for the past five years is something I’ll carry with me forever.

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ABOUT ELAHE

Elahe Zandy is 16 years old and a 10th grade student at Centner Academy. Her interest in journalism comes from an overall love for writing and expressing her thoughts on paper, as well as just a passion for learning about what is going on in the world. Last year, she had her first experience in the competitive world of writing, since she participated in the Emmerse Essay Competition, resulting in winning a scholarship for a summer program. Being a part of the Centner Academy journalism program has been a great experience to understand all the different aspects of the profession and the importance of news. In addition to enjoying writing, Elahe spends her time playing on the Centner Academy Tennis Team and co-chairing the Field Trip Fundraising Club.