In my four years at Hart High School, I have complained about my four years at Hart High School just about as much as a person can complain. Oftentimes, my complaints would be met with questions like, “What’s so bad about Hart?” To which I’d respond along the lines of, “Have you been here?”
Being a trans person at Hart is not easy. I’ve been surprised by the amount of support/lack of pushback, but it’s not perfect. I’ve had several incidents that left me feeling weird and unwelcome. But I’ve also had lots of really nice moments that made me feel like I belong.
I used to have a really bad habit of assuming people were going to be rude to me, so I preemptively avoided interacting with them at all. I was pretty quiet and intentionally awkward, so people would leave me alone.
Last year, I grew tired of being detached and elected to stop intentionally isolating myself. Senior year, I tried to actually be part of Hart, at least a little bit; I’m president of a club, I’m on a district-wide council and I try to actually talk to people who I haven’t known since elementary school. I felt like an outcast, but I realized I was playing a hand in making myself an outcast. If you’re in a similar situation, my advice is to start participating even a little bit before you regret it. I’m by no means Mr. School Spirit, but it’s fun to feel like you belong a little bit. It’s really not fun to feel alone in a place full of people, get involved even if it’s to a small degree.
