For most, the beginning of senior year is a bittersweet period of “the beginning of the end” of one’s time in high school. Seniors celebrate their last first days and excitedly look towards the future after graduation. However, for senior Kate Burdette, the beginning of this year was filled with many firsts, as her senior year will be both her first and last year at Sion. Burdette transferred to Sion from Maranatha Christian Academy in Shawnee, KS.
“I was at my school for 11 years,” Burdette said. “I grew up with all those people, and two of my older brothers graduated from there too. So I knew all the teachers and all the people there.”
The family has a long history with the school. In addition to her two older brothers having graduated from Maranatha, Burdette’s father also worked there. Because of this strong connection to the school, Burdette’s family is still very involved.
“My dad and I still go to the home football games. We do the clock and the scoreboard,” Burdette said. “So I help out with that. And then I also am down in the student section getting everyone hype.”
Burdette says the most common thing people ask her about transferring to Sion is if it feels different to be at an all-girls school than a co-ed school.
“It’s honestly not that different,” Burdette said. “You don’t really notice that there’s no guys here. It kind of just feels homey.”
Another notable difference between Marantha and Sion is how religion is taught. Interfaith dialogue is an integral part of Sion’s religious education, which is not part of the curriculum in many other Christian schools.
“At my old school, it was a strictly Christian school, so they would shove Christianity down your throat, almost,” Burdette said. “But here it’s really open and a lot of things are optional.”
This openness seems to be a theme at Sion, according to Burdette. She has felt very welcomed at Sion and is excited to continue forming friendships with her peers.
“There’s going to be cliques everywhere you go, but everyone’s been so open and inviting and welcoming,” Burdette said. “I can go up to someone random and they’ll start talking to me about the most random thing. At my old school, that would never happen, we were a lot more closed off. So I feel like here there’s just a lot more openness.”
Though it has been difficult to transfer during the last year of high school, Burdette says she wants to continue to push herself to try new things and meet new people because she knows she always has her faith to fall back on.
“Ultimately, I just had to trust that God was going to protect me and provide all those friendships,” Burdette said.
