When Gina Ginsburg walked into Garfield High School on the first day of freshman year, it was like she had been catapulted into an entirely new world. “Garfield was a lot different,” says Ginsburg, who is now a sophomore at the Center School. Last year, she became one of a handful of students who transfer out of Garfield each year for a wide variety of reasons. They may want to switch to a school with all their old friends, seek out a specific program at another school, or leave to reconcile a disciplinary issue. For Ginsburg, the issue was size. She attended the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences for middle school, an institution she deemed “small and artsy.” Garfield, on the other hand, was filled with crowding, yelling, and chaos.

Ginsburg remembers the moment that she realized Garfield wasn’t the right fit for her. “I was walking in a packed hallway, with everyone pushing and shoving on the stairs,” she says. “There was some lady holding a microphone yelling at the top of her lungs. I didn’t want to go to a school where kids were herded like cattle.”

Carrie McConnell, another transfer from Garfield to Center, agrees. “At Garfield you can get lost, and it feels like the teachers don’t really care about you,” she says. “But at my new school, they know you a lot better and are kind of friends with you. They make you want to do well in class.”

Ginsburg says that Center School more easily accommodates her personality. “It’s more chill,” she says. “There are less crazy authority figures, I feel like I’m a part of a community, and the students are treated like adults.”

Some Bulldogs who bleed purple and white may argue that the Garfield community is one of the most unique and diverse anywhere, but many, including GHS junior Gracy Suazo, don’t agree. “Garfield has no unity, just a lot of cliques,” she says. “If you are coming in and haven’t established your clique, you can’t talk to anyone. People just don’t take the time to get to know anybody.”

Suazo has had to experience this first hand. Last year she transferred in from West Seattle High School. West Seattle, just a 3A school, was smaller, and she felt like most of the kids knew each other. She also believes that Garfield’s enormity has a negative effect on its educational opportunities. “The academics are good, but you have to go out and find help,” she says. “There are too many people for the school to just come to you. There should be more emphasis and support for college prep and SATs.”

Although Suazo would like to switch, because she is a junior, she will probably still be here next year. However, she plans to fill her schedule with Running Start classes, hoping to make better use of her high school time.

Education was part of the reason that Sarah (name changed) switched last year from Garfield to Roosevelt. Sarah, like many other transfers, attended a small middle school where she said that the teachers were closer to the students and everyone knew everyone else. However, this wasn’t the main reason for her decision. She didn’t love her time at Garfield, and after she was suspended, her parents, who didn’t like the Garfield teachers, solidified her decision to transfer for academic and disciplinary reasons.

Not all students who enter Garfield in difficult circumstances end up transferring. Sophomore Sean Foster was one of only two students from his middle school class to enter Garfield last year. At first, school was tough. “A lot of my friends at Roosevelt have been my friends throughout my childhood and I hated not going to school with them,” he says. “The first half of freshman year I hated it and never really put myself out there or made an effort to make new friends at Garfield.” Still, Foster is glad he stuck with it. “The second half I decided to make an effort and really helped my situation,” he says. “Now I know hecka heads at both schools which is dope.”

Adjusting in high school can be tough no matter what the circumstances. A complicated disciplinary situation, difficult size transition or specific educational wants or needs can make it even more difficult to cope. Many of us love Garfield with all our hearts, but for others, it’s simply not the right fit. Either way, high school comprises some of the most important years of life, and it sometimes takes more than one try to find the right one.