Every year, Riverside Brookfield High School receives new students, whether it is at the beginning of the year or halfway through the year. Each and every student has something to give, and each one of them has a story. In the beginning of this year, Gabriella Graupera, a current sophomore at RB, transferred to RB from Barcelona, Spain and began playing for the RB girls varsity basketball team this season.
Graupera expressed the difference between Spain and the United States as well as memories she has made over the past six months.
“I like how much teachers have helped me to adapt to a different system and language. Whenever I don’t understand something, they always explain it to me patiently. I’ve also made really good friends and met very nice people in the school,” Graupera said.
Sometimes even just trying new things or working in a new environment can be difficult to get used to. Graupera explained the process of being able to come to the United States for this experience and how a lot of things changed her perspective on things and helped her indulge in her passions, like playing basketball.
“All exchange students that want to go to America for a year have to pay for a specific program that lets you come legally. Then you write some essays describing yourself and what you expect from this experience so a voluntary host family chooses you,” Gruapera said.
During the year, Graupera took as many opportunities to try new things, meet new people, and continue playing basketball as she has been doing from a young age.
“I really loved my life in Spain. I had good friends and a loving family, but I felt like I wanted to experience a different lifestyle and learn more about the world. Now that I’m here, I don’t regret it at all. The school system is really different. I feel like here we have a little more freedom with dress codes, phone policy, food in class, etc. We also don’t have that many different subjects, for example, ceramics. School-wise, I like it more here, but in general, I like it more there, especially because of the food,” Graupera said.
This was a new beginning for Graupera and opened many doors for her. With her hard work and dedication, Graupera got into the girls basketball team and made varsity.
“I’ve been playing basketball since I was five or six, and it is one of my favorite things to do, so before even coming to America, I knew I wanted to try out for the team. Luckily, I made varsity,” Graupera said.
With experiences like this, it helped Graupera create new memories.
“Some advice I would give future transfer students, or just new RB students, is that you need to have patience because the first months are hard, but eventually they’ll feel like they belong and won’t want to leave,” Graupera said.