To be honest, most of my earliest memories of transitioning from elementary school to middle school are of my mom’s anxiety. For her, the decision between sending me to a public school or a private school was something she put a lot, maybe a little too much, thought into. All any parent wants is for his or her child to be heard and seen. Putting your 10-year-old in a class with 35 kids on a campus with 18-year-olds gave her the feeling that maybe my voice would become softer and I would end up hiding behind the size of the class or the size of my classmates.
However, the deciding factor to her choice to put me in Malibu High was all thanks to a memory she had of me in a car seat on our way to the Palisades, where I went to kindergarten. Insisting she turn the music down because I had something important to tell her, I said, “I want to go to school where I can see the ocean.”
I always knew how fortunate I was to go to school in such a beautiful place; a place where we got to take classes that involved doing research on the beach once a week. However, it wasn’t until I made friends who went to different schools that I realized how spoiled I was at Malibu High. It is a place where teachers put so much confidence in their students to take on a self-motivated assignment and allowed them the space and support to explore their own interests, a place where we feel safe being ourselves, a place where the respect between a student and teacher is mutual, and a place where we can call our teachers our friends. There have been plenty of moments from my seven years here that remind me how unique my educational experience has been.
Mrs. Prunier, a teacher I have been lucky enough to have for three different classes, is one of the many faculty members that defines Malibu High School. I got to know her outside the classroom when we phone banked on Tuesday nights for NO on Prop 8, a proposition denying equality. Since then I’ve watched her students transform into concerned and passionate citizens whatever their beliefs may be.
I have had roughly 20 teachers in the past seven years at Malibu High. Each and every teacher I have had, and even some I haven’t had the privilege of getting to know as well, have contributed greatly to my life. Whether it’s the teacher who I can talk to about my own interests and relate to on a personal level, or the teachers who refuse to admit there is life outside their field, I have always felt like I’ve been supported and heard at Malibu.
I see the look on my mom’s face as I tell her about my day at school or when I share with her what I have learned, or when she watches me interact with the amazing friends I have made at Malibu High. It’s the look a parent gets when they know they have made the right choice. I know she knows that Malibu High has given me the greatest high school education and memories that I could imagine. I will miss it very much, and not only because I could see the ocean…
Carson Meyer