Allie has moved a few times, and this fall she landed at Benton Grade School. She started the school year here. That makes her six weeks into life as the new student in a building full of familiar faces that are not yet hers.

Allie, whose full name is Allison, spent her early years in Flora. Her family settled in Mount Vernon during third grade, moving through the town's primary center, JL Buford, and Casey Middle School along the way. This year brought another move, this time to Benton. She now lives with her mom and her younger sister, a fifth grader who is also brand new to the district. Her mom kept her job at the Napa warehouse in Mount Vernon and simply drives up the road each day rather than starting over completely.

The hardest part of the move, Allie says, has been the people, or rather, not yet knowing them. Back in Mount Vernon, she had a wide circle of friends. Here, she is still working on building one. She still sees old friends when she can, having spent time with one of them just last weekend, but making new connections in a new school has taken longer than she expected. "I don't really talk to people," she said of her first weeks in Benton, though she does not sound discouraged about it.

Sports may end up being the fix. Allie ran track last year in Mount Vernon, competing in relays and throwing discus, though hurdles intimidated her enough that she held back. This year she wants to give hurdles a real shot. "If I could, I would try to jump hurdles every day," she said, already pushing herself in the meantime by jumping over whatever she can find outside. She is considering trying out for volleyball at Benton, something she skipped in seventh grade. Being part of a team, she believes, is exactly the kind of thing that will help her meet people faster than sitting on the sidelines ever could. "I feel like it will let me meet more people," she said, already picturing new friendships forming through practice and competition.

Allie says her sister has adjusted to Benton more easily than she has. Still, she likes the house her family found hereIn the classroom, language arts has become her favorite subject, and she likes her teacher, Ms. Noel, who nominated Allie for this story. Allie gravitates toward writing about real events rather than fiction. She is not shy about having strong opinions once she puts pen to paper. Ask her what troubles her about the world, and she points to senseless conflict, people getting hurt over arguments that never needed to escalate in the first place. Her fix would be simple: more everyday politeness, less friction between people who could just as easily get along.

That same directness shows up when she talks about her future. Allie wants to become a defense lawyer, confident in her own ability to make a case and hold her ground. "I'm good at proving points," she said, without a hint of hesitation, the kind of answer that suggests she has already thought this through more than once.

For now, her goals are smaller and closer to home. A good school year, in her mind, simply means knowing more people by the end of the school year than she does today. Between a locker in a new building, a track season on the horizon, and perhaps a volleyball tryout still ahead, Allie has plenty of chances coming to make that happen. If joining a team is what it takes to belong here, she is ready to jump straight over that hurdle.