From April 1, 2022, to July 1, 2022, Camas’ population increased by nearly 5 percent, adding about 1,278 new residents. Since then, there have been 345 new students in the Camas School District (CSD). Students from all backgrounds must learn to overcome the challenges of moving to Camas, enrolling in Camas High School (CHS), and finding a place to fit in.
“The three biggest challenges students face when they first go to high school here are that they must get used to high school, make new friends, and transition from a smaller school to a bigger one,” CHS Registrar Sara Keene said.
Whenever a student transfers from another district to Camas, Keene has to request the student’s transcript from their original school manually. She inputs this information to CHS’s transcript system, Parchment, and then interacts with the counselors to ensure the student is ready to attend CHS.
Generally, there are not many issues with transfer credits. However, if the student has taken extra classes over the summer, they must take extra care to ensure those credits are counted correctly. For example, most new students must take Washington State History to graduate in Washington. If the student’s previous school offered a state history program, those credits can be transferred to fulfill the Washington requirement. Unfortunately, schools in Oregon and California do not provide such a program.
Concurrent with Keene’s three significant challenges, the shocking size of CHS is a change that students must adjust to.
“Before moving to Camas, I had only ever attended Grant Elementary School from preschool to grade 8,” said CHS sophomore Casey Leach, “It was a very small school with only about 60 people per grade level. I knew the same 60 people for ten years.”
For a building with a footprint of approximately 241,621 square feet, students must learn the entire layout but might only traverse half of it.
Across the school, many cliques, friend groups, and clubs exist to help students integrate into CHS. From Key Club to Thespians to GSA, there is a place for everyone to find opportunities to feel at home in their community. Many students agreed they found the same opportunities in Camas as their previous homes.
“I’ve found a lot more opportunities here. There’s more variety in just about everything. There’s not a lot that I miss, and if there is, I can find things that are just as good [in Camas],” CHS sophomore Reese Hoffmann said.
Despite these challenges, new students are some of the most resilient bunch that Camas has seen. After surviving nearly three years of socially-distanced education, these students bounced back, moved to a new school, and assimilated into their new life in Camas. Moving to this city has marked a new chapter in their lives, and hopefully, Camas will continue to uphold the optimism people had when first moving here.
“I don’t see myself leaving here any time soon,” Leach said, “I’ll probably go to college nearby and live with my parents during that time. Later in life, I see myself staying on the West Coast because it is a lovely place to live.”
