Halle

"Do you need help finishing packing for tomorr-ow's depart-ure, girl?" My good friend and room-mate, Lisa, asked, sitting on the edge of her bed. "I've already gotten mine done.""I appre-ciate the offer, girl, but I am good, ready, and packed for my summer at home." I smiled at Lisa. "I'm going to miss you this summer, and am beyond excited about starting our senior year in Au-gust, and for being roomies for another year!""Same here!" Lisa piped. Coming over to me, Lisa gave me a big hug, and said, "Love you, girl!""Love you, too!" I smiled, giving Lisa a big hug.As I hugged Lisa, I thought about my journey here at Heron Board-ing School for girls with learning dis-abilitiesgoing into high school that is located in Albu-quer-que, New Mexico.When I went was in junior high with my best friends back in my home-town of Houst-on, Texas, I was bullied relent-lessly. Even when my best friends, Kina, Marley, Jemma, Kellan, and Race, and my parents had tried to do some-thing about it, the staff wouldn't do anything about it. In fact, the bullying had gotten so bad to where I had attempt-ed suicide on Valen-tine's Day. That was the last straw for my parents! After immed-iately pulling me out of that school, they started looking for alter-native options for my high school career. After discover-ing Heron Board-ing School, and doing some thor-ough research on it, Mom, Dad, and I decided that it was worth paying it a visit.During the visit, I was more than a little nervous. What if what happen-ed at my last school would happen here? What if the head-master, staff, and students were mean and snotty? During my first visit, I learned that that was not the case, at all. Quickly, I had come to love every-one at HBS, and they quickly came to love me, too! With this said, I could not ask for a better school to call my school home!