Michael Bell

From the start of my schooling career all the way through my sophomore year of high school, I went to Massabesic High School. My time there was substandard at best, and from sixth grade on, I wanted out. It didn’t matter to me where I went, I just did not want to be at that school district anymore. I never felt like I was getting anything out of being there which made it hard for me to motivate myself to actually do my work and get good grades. During my sophomore year, I really pushed my parents to let me transfer. Kennebunk was always where I really wanted to go because I had family there, so I figured that would make the transition easier. So after years of practically begging my parents, they finally agreed to let me transfer here for junior year. 

I was so excited that the day after they agreed (sometime in late May of sophomore year), I went into school and I told all of my friends that I wasn’t going to be going there anymore. No one believed me. Not one single person. I remember being in my advisory on one of the last days of school and I told my advisor, and to my surprise, even she didn’t blame me for leaving. One of the guidance counselors/varsity football coach was also in the classroom for that conversation, so he decided to chime in. He asked me if I was going to continue to play football, and I responded by saying that I probably wouldn’t, because playing football was never a passion of mine. He then said something that really surprised me. He said, “Then I don’t care if you leave.” That was the last conversation I ever had with him. After that, I knew that there was no way in hell I made the wrong decision, something a lot of people told me I was doing. It took the entire summer to convince most of my friends that I was going to Kennebunk but they knew I was telling the truth when I wasn’t at Massabesic for the first day of junior year. 

A few days before the first day of school, I had basketball practice and I happened to be practicing with one of my buddies who also goes here, Adam Lux. I told him that I had decided to transfer to Kennebunk and I would be in school with him from now on. He was one of the only people who I knew at Kennebunk and thank God for him. He introduced me to all of my new friends and made the switch ten times easier than I imagined it would be. 

So other than going through a pandemic, my time here has been amazing and I’m grateful for it. I’ve met some people who I know will be lifelong friends. I joined the football team despite what I told the Massabesic guidance counselor, and I had a great time even though we couldn’t actually play. I finally started to feel like I was getting something out of school (even though coming here was a big wake-up call because it was substantially more difficult than Massabesic). I can now say that transferring to Kennebunk was easily the best decision I’ve ever made.

One of the biggest lessons that I have learned since transferring, is that if there is an opportunity to better your situation then you shouldn’t always listen to what other people tell you, take the chance, and hope for the best.