Change is a scary thing. Especially when the change is so drastic that it affects who your friends are, what you learn, and even how much time you have. No one understands this better than Juniors Meghan Karl and Emily Lankler, who both made the switch from public to private school.

Karl attended Flower Valley Elementary and then Wood Middle School. Karl went to RHS freshman and sophomore year before transitioning to Good Counsel, a catholic private high school, for her junior year.

“Even though I like private school a lot better than public school, I think that having those two years at Rockville still helped me to be the student and person I am today, Karl said. “I made so many great friends and had many great teachers who helped me along the way, but in the end transferring junior year was best for me.”

One of the biggest reasons Karl started to look at private schools in the area was due to academics. Her parents didn’t feel that her learning environment was adequate in her honors classes at RHS. Karl explained, “My public school classmates were a huge distraction and made it hard for me to focus on the subject at hand.”

Lankler also left RHS her sophomore year to go to Sandy Spring Friends School. She went to a private school to have a smaller environment with smaller classes of about fifteen students and more one-on-one interactions with teachers.

“I like my classes and teachers a lot more. I am able to learn better and I am getting better grades in private school,” Lankler said. “Even though I like private school a lot more than public, I think that if I didn’t start out at Rockville I would have missed out on a ton of things like performing in the drama program and making new friends.”

Sandy Spring Friend School is a Quaker school. Quaker schools are institutions that provide an education based on the beliefs and testimonies of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

“It’s very different and at first it was really weird and difficult for me to get used to, but now I don’t even give it a second thought. I like it because it feels like the students and teachers are equal to an extent. I feel more comfortable with my teachers then I did at Rockville, which also goes along with it being a small school.”