Radford High School’s Transition Center has become a sanctuary for students who are new and unfamiliar with the state of Hawaii. It makes the transition to the high school less nerve-wracking with the support of  the center’s advisors, student facilitators, and other new students.

“It [transition center] makes changing schools a lot easier and it helps you make friends,” sophomore Greyson Haynes said. “I wouldn’t know as many people as I do now if it wasn’t for the transition center. I don’t think it’s just a good thing for me. Other students seem to really like it too. I’ve seen at least 25 students in the center and I’ve only been here for three weeks.” Greyson is a military dependent, who recently moved from Virginia.

The transition center teaches its facilitators skills like public speaking, to make the new students feel safe, welcome, and comfortable. Junior Victoria Rigg said she was grateful that the school had a transition center because moving schools is such a stressful process that no one should have to go through alone.

“When I first moved here I was so intimidated by the size of the school. Radford has over 1,000 students, so it’s easy for anyone to get lost. Being new just makes it worse,” Rigg said, “I was so happy to have somewhere to go during recess and lunch and I know all the other new students were happy as well. We all made friends easier because we were going through the same thing.”