Moving from a place you grew up in is hard, and making the transition to public school from a Montessori School is even harder. Six months ago sophomore Elizabeth Facer moved 15 hours to Omaha from her home in Utah to attend Westside High School.

“I used to live in Provo, Utah, I lived there for 12 years,” Facer said. “We moved six months ago because my dad had a job opportunity here in Omaha.”

Facer is not just any transfer student, being an alumni from a Montessori School, Facer faced many challenges during the transition.

“I used to go to a Montessori Charter School,” Facer said. “The owner of the school runs the school, and they don’t have to follow all of the rules that other schools do. Most of the time charter schools are more focused than other schools. I went to the Walden school of liberal arts, so it was mostly focused on writing, art and history.”

Coming to Westside was a surprise for Facer because her school day is much busier than it was before. The Montessori school allowed her more freedom and individuality.

“The charter school was a lot more hands-on and slow paced and I definitely didn’t take as many classes,” Facer said. “I could choose at the beginning of the year to have a five or six hour day, which was really great. Some people would have four classes a day and some would have five.”

Facer explained how different her Montessori school was from Westside.

“We had a lot more advanced classes, like one where we would make food out of ingredients grown in a garden at our school, and a yoga class that we had for PE,” Facer said. “We would also go on school trips at the end of the year. Last year we went to Canada.”

Although Facer misses her friends and relatives in Utah, she is glad that her family made the move, and is looking forward to her next two years at Westside.

“I miss the mountains and activities and stuff,” Facer said. “Utah is kind of like a bubble, it is really protective and I have experienced a lot more things here in Omaha, so I’m glad that we moved.”