CBC, Cor Jesu, St. Joe Manchester, Whitfield, Holy Infant, Saint Louis University High School, South High, West High, Marquette, Ladue, and Lafayette. There are many choices when it comes to picking a high school. There are also a lot of differences between the schools, especially between private and public.

Freshman Libby Rebholz had just started public school for the first time at Parkway South High in the 2018-2019 school year after she transferred from Holy Infant.

“I prefer public schools because they have a lot more new technologies, and they are more laid back,”  Libby Rebholz said.

Many individuals have different perspectives on the academic differences between public and private schools. Rebholz has one perspective.

“Public Schools are easier–way easier. They are way less uptight,” she said.

 Counselor Stacy Morgan, said she tries to make these students feel more comfortable and get used to their new school.

“The biggest struggle is probably going to be finding their group of friends. We tell them to join clubs and activities to get closer to the group of people,”  Morgan said.

Morgan said she and the other counselors have several strategies they use to help kids adjust when they’re transitioning from a private school to South High.

“We do a lot of things to help these kids transition. We do things such as icebreaker activities, we go through their schedule with them, we help them meet with other new students, and we have around a 2-hour orientation to help them feel more comfortable. Apart from this freshmen have freshman orientation and link crew to help them adjust even more,” Morgan said.

According to Debbie Stockhausen,  registrar liaison for South High, 15 percent of South High students once attended a private school.

There are a lot of students who transfer from private to public schools over the years due to many reasons. There are also a variety of schools to choose from when transferring.

“We get a lot of students from the following schools, St. Joseph Manchester and St. Paul’s in Des Peres… and apart from this we also get a lot from private schools who have finished 8th grade and now need a new high school to transfer to,” She said.

It is not only freshmen who come to South High from a private school. Sam Costa, senior, is new to South. He is coming from CBC, where he spent his freshman through junior years.

“I went to CBC and I would say the biggest difference is at CBC it was a smaller school so they teachers would almost baby you and work with you one on one. Academically it was easier for this reason,” he said.