Junior from Houston undergoes culture shock

At the start of the school year in August, junior Katy Wilson was living in her hometown of Houston, a city of more than 2 million, and attending Bellaire High School. Two weeks later,she moved to Saratoga from her home of 16 years and faced one of the biggest culture shocks of her life.

“I actually thought I was moving to San Jose, and I had no idea about Saratoga at all,” Wilson said. “But in general, I imagined California to be really liberal. My uncle is from California and he's super hipster and pretends to be a pirate, so I thought people were super carefree.”

Wilson is living with her cousin, junior Alex Tran, and his family so that she could be in a safer environment. Wilson lived in an area of Houston where gangs and violence were common.

“At my old school, Bellaire High, there was recently a clown shooting, so the school had to go into lockdown,” said Wilson. “While clowns are invading Houston, there’s nothing dynamic that really happens here.”

Stepping onto campus, Wilson noticed the differences between the communities immediately.

“I lived in southwest Houston, and the weather was usually always warm,” Wilson said. “But sometimes we called it ‘bipolar’ because the weather could drastically change.”

Coming from a city in which about 25 percent of the population is African American, to Saratoga, which has roughly a 0.3 percent African American population, Wilson quickly  noticed the stark difference in demographics.

Saratoga, of course, also has a drastically smaller population and for Wilson, and one of the things she misses the most is the atmosphere of a bigger city. Wilson said that Houston has a variety of stores and places.

“I you want to do anything in Houston, it’s there. But there’s a lot of Chipotles here, which is always a plus,” Wilson said.

The tough academic culture at Saratoga High, however, stands out to Wilson as being the hardest thing to getting accustomed to as a new SHS student.

“I've definitely faced the academic pressure at Saratoga; I’m now only taking English and regular US History,” Wilson said. “Back in Bellaire High School, all we really did was party, and people didn’t care too much about academics.”

Beyond the academic pressure, however, it is actually the small things that she misses the most about Bellaire High, such as the staff who were “a lot more comfortable being around the students” and the hour-long lunch.

Fortunately for Wilson, she says that the welcoming attitude at Saratoga as well as programs like CASSY have greatly helped her transition.

“Everyone’s super nice at Saratoga, which is always appreciated,” Wilson said.