Before joining Peregrine in its first year as an elementary school, I had no experience with project-based learning or the concept of a school that would be able to cater to every student that attended. I had learned to associate my time at school with feelings of social anxiety and insecurity by the time that I enrolled in fifth grade and was beyond nervous to be starting over somewhere I knew nothing about, but within my first couple months there I came to the realization that I was more comfortable there then I ever had been at my previous school. There was an interesting sense of community between the kids in my class knowing that we were embarking on this kind of “journey” together, and even switching classrooms and buildings throughout the year, including a brief stint of holding class in my own house, didn’t deter us from becoming fast friends. Encouraged mingling between the different grades also allowed us to make friends with and give advice to younger kids who we’d see every day at lunch or recess. We interacted with everybody at school, not just people in our grade or the teachers that taught us regularly - everyone knew everyone else by name, and we operated on a system of respect that allowed the teachers to talk to us like we were real people and not just little kids.