Having lived in two countries, a territory, and an island, senior Paola Davis has traveled and moved across different parts of the United States and the Caribbean her whole life.
Davis was born in Puerto Rico, where she lived for five years, and later moved to St. John, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she continued living for seven more.
At the age of 13 she moved to Florida. After living there for five years, Davis and her family decided to take off a year from school to travel across the country in an R.V. for a year.
For the past two years, Davis has been living in Cancun, Mexico. Growing up learning both English and Spanish, she didn’t attend just any normal school.
“I went to an international American school,” Davis said. “It was basically a school where I did 50 percent Spanish and 50 percent English. I had four classes in Spanish and four classes in English. It was kind of like a dual credit thing where I get one diploma for the states, and one diploma for Mexico, but I’m not going to get that one now because I left.”
Her life is something that sounds cool to other students.
“I think it would be fun just because you get to be in a different place, but still learn the same things,” junior Deirdre Crowley said. “I would want to live in an international school if I lived in a different place for the benefit of my education, and I think it would be a better experience than attending a normal school in your normal country.”
Living in the different places she did has, shaped Davis into a person different from others.
“I think it does benefit me in the long run because moving around made me who I am,” Davis said. “It taught me to put myself out there and a whole bunch of different things.”
Constantly being put in a changing and new environment often forces people to learn new skills.
“Out of necessity, you learn that trait from moving around a lot and you gotta be a little outgoing in order to make friends when you move,” health teacher Jonathan Stinson said. “I think it’s good to be developed like that.”
Though most people would probably enjoy the views and scenery of the places that Davis had lived, she has other things she liked the most.
“My favorite part of it all was meeting new people and always having new friends and everything,” Davis said. “I’ve loved my time here so far, too. The people here are awesome, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the people who live here.”
Despite living her whole life in warmer climates, Davis hopes to change it up once she goes off to college.
“I probably want to go somewhere else, like Oregon or Vermont,” Davis said. “I want to just because it’s cold there.”
While moving around to different places could be considered beneficial, there can be a negative aspect.
“There’s something to be said for stability, but it’s just a different experience to live in many places,” Stinson said. “You learn a lot about culture and you learn a lot about the different places and everything. But, it could also be detrimental because you don’t necessarily have that sense of stability.”
For Davis, the places she has lived have had an overall positive effect on her life.
“I like the diversity and I like getting to learn about all the other cultures and everything,” Davis said. “It just kind of changed me and made me who I am today, and I’m thankful for that.”
