Turning the Paige: Sophomore Becomes More Involved and Confident By Moving

Sophomore Paige Good never thought she would be on East’s highly competitive tennis team, a member of Model U.N. and making new friends in Latin Club. She didn’t expect to try out for the musical, sit in on a feminist club meeting, participate in forensics or run for StuCo representative — none of the four worked out, but that didn’t stop her.

However, Good wasn’t always the involved, unafraid girl she is at East.

At Orono Middle School in Minn., she was insecure about her intelligence. She kept to herself. Every day, after she walked across North Old Crystal Bay Road with her friends and entered her first hour Honors Algebra 2 class, she felt overshadowed.

“In middle school, I didn’t really think I was that smart because I had such smart friends that I was around, and I always felt very competitive towards them,” Good said. “But I never felt as good as them.”

Good’s friends would talk about how easy a test was, not realizing that she didn’t do well. As tests were passed back, they would complain about getting a single question wrong — unaware that Good had missed five.

“They would always get like, 100 and 98 on all these tests and I’d be in the corner like, ‘Oh, I got a B. Great,’” Good said. “It was a little hard because I was constantly comparing myself to them.”

But when her dad was laid off last January, her family packed up and moved to Mission Hills, Kan. She left her friends and their high test averages behind. For the first time, the ceaseless thought of not feeling smart enough left her.

“[Moving has] taught me to rely on myself more than others and to push myself to strive for the academic success that I want,” Good said.

Moving away from her Minn. friends forced Good to motivate herself and work to achieve her academic goals on her own. While the move helped her realize her own academic potential, her confidence took a little longer to begin growing. Despite enjoying the chance of a new start, Good mostly kept to herself and wasn’t able to latch onto a friend group. During freshman year, she took up bullet journaling and began to paint and draw more to take her mind off of moving.

“I found my place [in Orono]: just kind of in the middle, the nice, quiet kid, doesn’t really talk to a lot of people,” Good said. “But now that I’m forced to get to know everybody at the new school, I’m more outgoing and compelled to talk to people.”

Joining clubs and activities at East helped her gain confidence and meet new people. Good began to notice herself starting conversations with upperclassmen during tennis practices and presenting to a classroom full of students without her face turning an all-to-familiar shade of red.

“I don’t think she’s afraid to talk to people,” sophomore Shannon Burns, one of Good’s friends from East, said. “Maybe she wasn’t confident at first, but now she’s getting the hang of it.”

Good even signed up for a class freshman year “which [she] would have never done [before moving]” — forensics. Good’s friend from Orono, Megan Schoenzeit, impressed by Good’s choice said that she “seems more outgoing than she used to be.”

Good agrees with her friends that the experience of moving and being forced to be alone has helped her grow confidence as an individual.

“I was on my own for a little bit, trying to find friend groups and who I wanted to be friends with, and I think that I was able to spend a lot of time with myself,” Good said. “I was kind of able to figure out what my interests are and grow into myself.”

Sidebar by Lily Billingsley