• Home
• Slide Shows
• Videos
• Parent Videos

• Home
• Slide Shows
• Videos
• Parent Videos

• A Day in the Life of New River Academy
• Testimonials
  • Parent Perspective by Amy Hill
• Staff/Employment
  • Staff Bios
• Athletics
• Being the New Kid

The New Kid at New River Academy

Being the new student at any school can be tough. I am a new student at New River Academy. I was a bit scared when I was first coming to meet up with the school on the way to Chile, but I was also very excited. I did not know anyone that attends the school, nor did I know if the students were nice. The first day I found out that they were, in fact, all nice.

The first few days were tough; I had never traveled with my kayak before and I was all disorganized. When we first arrived in Santiago, I was so excited to go boating, but unfortunately we had a 12-hour lay over for our flight to southern Chile. We finally reached Pucon, got a good night of sleep, and went boating the next day.

The school days with a traveling high school are much better than at a public school. We sleep in a little later, workout as a group, eat breakfast together, go to class until about 3 p.m., and then go boating until dinner. Life is good here at New River Academy; the water is great and the friendships are wonderful.

Being the new kid at this school does not even compare to being the new kid at a normal high school. Most people think they will be judged and rejected before getting to know the other students. Not here. Everyone greeted me with a smile from the start, and I felt like I was not the new kid, but a friend of theirs for a lifetime.

Sean Johnson is from Davis, California and is currently attending classes next to the Futaleufu River in Chilean Patagonia.