Making friends in school can be a challenge for new students, but fall sports can help to create new friendships and rekindle old ones over the course of the season. While most freshmen enter the community with classmates, moving from another country and starting high school brings a challenge of its own.
Junior Elena Lensink moved to Germany after her freshman year at Marshall and is back after a year overseas. Instead of finding it difficult to reconnect with friends, field hockey has helped her adjust from the move back.
“Field hockey [during] freshman year helped me make some friends before school started and this year it was really great in getting back into the Marshall routine,” Lensink said. “I could reconnect with my friends from freshman year.”
While Lensink has the cushion of already attending Marshall her freshman year, freshman Jennifer Soto moved from Panama and joined the cheerleading team for the chance to meet new people before the school year started.
“I’m actually very happy because everyone is so supportive when I first came here and I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Soto said. “I was so nervous at first but I really like [cheerleading].”
Though her move was smaller in scale, sophomore Gati Manamba moved from Arizona and faced many of the same issues as Soto. She joined volleyball to help make friends.
“[Volleyball] helped me make friends by being able to communicate with others and practicing with everyone helps me create a bond and learn about them,” Manamba said. “I would say I’m bonding really well with my teammates and I’m creating a great friendship with all of them.”