“Writing the Self 2: The New Girl”

Familiar faces crowded the grade three classroom as we shared with one another our exciting new pencil cases and colourful backpacks that we picked out for the first day back. The laughter and energy were almost as hectic as a zoo as story after story poured from the students mouths about what their summer consisted of. Everything from lake days to swimming lessons to even traveling outside of Saskatchewan; this was quite a shock for most of us farm kids as why would anyone want to leave our small town? We grew up with one another from the day we were born so thinking about leaving or some kind of change in our hometown was scary for us. 

            The excitement disappeared and instead whispers were quietly shared between one another. Looks of confusion filled our classroom as a new face stood at the door, her hand grasped tightly to another unknown face. Our teacher crouched down to wipe the tears from the girl’s eyes while each of us stared contently about what would happen next. The door closed behind Mrs. B, leaving one unfamiliar face to exit the building and the other to hide behind our teacher as if she was scared of us. “Class, I’d like you all to take your seats as I have some exciting news to share with you”, said Mrs. B with a bright smile on her face. We quickly found our desks and sat quietly waiting for our next instruction. Mrs.B proceeded, “Can everyone help me welcome our new student, Hllayisani?” The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; this is when Mrs. B repeated the sentence and we spoke up saying hello to our new classmate. Who was she? We rarely had new students and if we did, it was a friend from a town nearby. Our young brains were overflowing with questions about who this new student was and where she came from. She was small like us and had her backpack full of new school supplies like us, but there was something different about her.

            The recess bell rang, and everyone rushed to flood the hallways and race out to the playground. Word spread quickly between the kindergarten to fifth grade classes about who this new student was. While talk continued to get more and more out of hand, the fifth graders started making bets about who was going to ask her about her skin colour first. We all had questions that were eating away at us, but no one had the guts to talk to her. The bell rang again, cueing us that recess was over, and it was time to sit through an hour of social studies. Mrs. B began the class by looking at us with disapproval then continuing to explain to us about a place far away; so far that you’d have to take a plane. We became fascinated with this new place and everyone’s hands reached high in the air to make sure they would be picked to ask their question first. Instead, our teacher welcomed the new girl to the front of the class. She shared with us that the place we became so intrigued with is where she came from. The new girl became the talk of the class, but this time, not for her different skin colour.