Wade Hopkins

Boarding school? What did you do wrong? These were the questions I received when I told my lifelong friends that I wouldn’t be staying with them for high school. Growing up in a small southern town, not many people had ever heard of boarding school, and if they had, they just thought it was some school for troubled kids. But alas, I was no troubled child; I only wanted change. Growing up in Statesboro was great, but it was too small for me. I was tired of seeing the same things and the same people and felt that it was holding me back, both academically and socially. So, when the time was right, I said my farewells, packed up my bags, and hit the road for Chattanooga, Tennessee. The school I chose was Baylor, the same school my sister had attended for the past two years. I had a slow start to my freshman year, as COVID forced us to leave campus and do online Zoom classes. But despite this, I was determined that Baylor was the right place for me, and I kept going. Skip forward a few years, and it turns out I was exactly right; Baylor ended up being the best gift my family could have given me. I had the opportunity to live with people from all over the world, and for the first time, I saw how much more was out there. This whole adventure taught me many new things, but most importantly, don’t be afraid to take risks or step outside your comfort zone. It worked for me.