Kemoya Lee-Cox is a 12th-grade transfer student from Jamaica. As a recent transfer, she shares her first-hand experience moving from a different country and compares her old school to Pace.

This interview is edited and condensed.

What school were you in before you came here [to Pace]?

“I actually transferred from Jamaica [so] I went to Manchester High School in Jamaica.”

Why did you decide to transfer?

“Actually, it wasn’t really much of a decision. I immigrated [to the United States so then, I had to do 12th grade somewhere over here and [I] chose Pace.”

Compared to your last school, what do you think about Pace? Do you think that it’s better or worse?

“I don’t think it’s better or worse but at the same time there’s a lot of different stuff like the schools in Jamaica were strict. We strictly wore uniforms and over here we, you know, dress as we like and we have some students communicate with teachers. That doesn’t happen in Jamaica. We can’t bring our phones to school; we can’t wear certain jackets, you know stuff like that.“

In comparison, how does the carefree feeling of Pace compare to the feeling in Jamaica?

“It just makes me feel a bit more relaxed, like I don’t have to worry about [something] like the dean of discipline or something coming around to like check us, you know that nerve that it causes so that you feel more relaxed that you’ll be able to do your work better [here].”

What about the students so far?

“The students, they’re actually really nice so far. I’ve actually made friends quicker than I thought.”

What are you looking forward to most this year?
“To be honest, just getting good grades and applying to college – to get into a good college – and doing the best that I can whilst doing that.”
What’s your favorite thing about Pace so far?

“The fact that I can go outside and get food, [I] couldn’t do that in Jamaica. We had to stick to our cafeteria there yeah.”

Has moving impacted you or your family, has it been difficult getting accustomed to the new area?

“No, it’s not really difficult. It’s my first time permanently staying in the country but I’ve been here a lot before so you know I kind of know places. It is easy to get around and so on, you know, it’s not that difficult.”

What do you think about the curriculum? Is it different?

“Yeah, the syllabus is a lot different. It is a little bit different but for math and so on. It is actually really different because in Jamaica when we do math we cover everything under math but here like I’m just doing strictly statistics. Then we can choose our subjects. In Jamaica, based on our career path that we want, but here you know they just give you subjects unless you want to like get an AP or something like that.”

If you were to choose schooling in Jamaica or schooling in New York, which one would you prefer and why?

“To be very honest, I’d choose schooling over here just because of the strictness that Jamaica has. There are a lot of unnecessary things there, like for example, as I said before the jackets, the phones, braids, you can’t even wear braids. You have to wear natural hair, yeah, and they’re getting a little bit strict, especially with prefixes. You can’t even wear lip gloss and stuff like that, it’s crazy. And our uniform has to be a certain length…so i’d definitely choose school over here just because of that. But aside from that, in terms of the work, I’d probably choose Jamaica just because of the curriculum down there. [It] is actually really better than it is up here so it’s kinda like I don’t really wish I could choose but probably I’d lean more over here.”