Harmony Schehl has already lived in more towns than most fifth graders can name. After just a week and a half at Benton Grade School, she already likes what she has found.

Harmony was actually born in Illinois. She moved away before she was old enough to start school here. Since then, her school years have taken her through Oxford, Mississippi, for kindergarten through third grade, then Booneville, Mississippi, for fourth grade. The drive back to Benton took seven hours. This is her first school in the North. Her fifth grade classroom at Benton Grade School is the newest stop yet.

She moved with her mom and stepdad. He is originally from Oklahoma and now works at the Continental Tire plant in Mount Vernon. Her mom recently started a new job there as well. Harmony's biological father lives in the Mount Olive area with her youngest brother. Two of her older brothers, both already graduated, live in Mount Olive and Litchfield. That leaves Harmony as the only girl among four children and one of just three people in her Benton household. Her mom actually grew up in Illinois herself, near Gillespie, before eventually settling in Mississippi. The move north brought the family closer to relatives already living nearby, including step-grandparents and a family friend who takes them fishing. Benton also offers more opportunities than they had in Mississippi.

The change has been a welcome one. Harmony says she was bullied often at her old school. She dealt with rumors and unkind classmates on the bus almost daily. The difference in Benton has been immediate. "I really like this school," she said, glad for classmates who have been kind instead. In just a week and a half, she has already made a couple of friends, no small thing for a student who just walked into a school year already underway. Not much rattles her these days either. "I'm not really afraid of anything," she said, though she will admit to a few first-day nerves before tomorrow's choir rehearsal, her very first.

Harmony's favorite teacher so far is her homeroom teacher, Mr. Giacone. He happens to have attended college in Mississippi himself, not far from where Harmony went to school. "He's a really nice teacher," she said. She pointed to the freedom he gives students to move seats, work in groups, and talk with friends in the mornings. She picked up her locker combination in a single day. Math and reading round out her list of favorite subjects.

Outside the classroom, Harmony stays busy. She has cheered for five years and picks up new routines quickly once she has them memorized. She missed this year's cheer tryouts because of the timing of her move, a real disappointment for someone who genuinely loves it. She also spent a year or two in gymnastics before the move interrupted it. She plans to start again soon at a gym not far from Benton, close enough that her stepdad's family can practically point to it from their front yard. Soccer, volleyball and softball round out her list of sports.

Someday, Harmony wants to become a teacher herself, likely in reading or math. She credits her third-grade teacher, Ms. Owen, who made learning fun with Starbucks days and classroom celebrations. "I love teaching kids," Harmony said of the pull toward the career. She added that she is not particular about the grade level, as long as she gets to decorate her own classroom and spend her days around them. Elementary, middle, or high school, it does not matter much to her. The chance to do the job at all is what counts.

After all the moving, all the new towns, and all the new classrooms, Harmony has found something in Benton worth holding onto for a while.