At the start of 2018-2019 school year, I was excited and a little surprised to walk down the halls and encounter so many new faces. It’s a yearly routine to witness all of the new wide-eyed freshmen with a few new older students mixed in. However, the amount of new people from each grade was very shocking, and started the school year off with an interesting twist. I had heard earlier that summer that we would be expecting quite a few transfers from Point Arena High School to Mendocino due to some problems at the Point Area High School. I had heard many rumors concerning Point Arena Highs problems: drug abuse, financial issues, and lack of teachers. I wanted to find the real reasons why so many students had transferred out of Point Arena and how well they are transitioning to the Mendo life. To do this I interviewed a few new friends from Point Arena to answer questions concerning why they switched to Mendo and how the Mendocino schooling system compared to the Point Arena schools.

Phoebe Hunter (grade 10), June McClure (grade 10), and Francis Martinez (grade 11) all agreed that there were many problems and conflicts they had with the Point Arena schooling system that lead them to transfer, as well as their parents wanting them to find more structure and better their education. For example, due to the limited staff number most classes were taught by substitutes; this lead to much confusion and little-to-no discipline. Francis Martinez explained to me some of the problems of having an understaffed school: “Mostly the teaching staff and administrators keep changing year-after-year, which makes it hard to find any consistency in learning…so it’s hard to like find a groove academically.” Coming from a smaller area such as Point Arena, it is understandable that they would have problems finding staff members in such a small town of only 453 residents.

According to Phoebe the overall lack of discipline was also extremely prominent in Point Area, which lead to a good amount of violence on school grounds: “There is a lot more violence actually in school like there is 1-2 fights every week or so. I personally was there for 4 or 5 fights.” This contrasts greatly to the amount of discipline displayed at Mendocino High, which has a wooshy, peaceful environment only interrupted by the occasional school drama or an illegal vaping situation in the bathrooms.

This recent issue on our campus lead me to inquire about the drug scenes at both schools and how they compared and contrasted. It seemed obvious from most of the answers that both Mendocino and Point Arena have a few drug issues, nothing too serious, but they are definitely accessible in both communities for teenagers. With the information I gathered that it seems that nicotine products are slightly more prominent in Mendocino, but overall drug abuse is more prominent in the Point Arena School District.

These issues caused many families to consider other school options. Many students switched to other surrounding schools such as Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and other small charter schools. With Mendocino being the closest, most transfer students came here, joining our little Mendo family.

To wrap up the interviews I was interested to hear how everyone felt about the overall vibe of Mendocino High School, and how they were adjusting to Mendo. All of my interviewees had similar responses saying that the transition to mendo was better than expected, they were greeted with open arms, and piles of homework. Francis Martinez explained, “Mendo high’s teachers seem like they are a lot more focused and committed to having the students actually learn and give effort.” He feels the Mendocino teaching system is more organized, leading to a more productive learning environment, making school exciting and very beneficial for learning. Everyone I talked too seemed happy to be at Mendo, and said that although school is school they are really enjoying it. Jone McClure summed up these feelings when she said, “ I really like atmosphere of Mendocino high. The learning environment is so good and everyone is so nice… Personally I feel like this school fits me better than Point Arena because of the education and great volleyball program.”

This interview was extremely interesting and I had a complete blast getting to know some of my fellow peers better and learning about why and how they came to be at Mendo. Conducting these interviews I realized how much we have in this small town and how much we often take for granted. I am so thankful to go to school in such a beautiful place, with so many wonderful people, where I am challenged and pushed to learn. I realized a lot about how different our schools here are from any other. The community that we share here truly defines us and betters us.