West Monroe, Louisiana is just like Mansfield, Texas — school lords over the day, football reigns king and hanging out with friends is the local pastime, but there is one exception: the neighbors might be the famous Robertson family from the ridiculously popular TV show Duck Dynasty, as was the case with freshman Lindsey Blakely.
“It’s nothing really special,” Blakely said. “[Tourists] would ask everybody if we knew them or something. They made a big deal about it, but if you knew them it wasn’t really anything different.”
Blakely transferred to Legacy from West Monroe High School after deciding to move in with her mother.
“[West Monroe was] pretty easygoing, nothing really different from here,” Blakely said.
Though she misses her friends in Louisiana, Blakely appreciates the new opportunities she’s received by moving to Mansfield. The more urban environment presents a stark contrast to the wooded country of her old town. Unlike at her previous school, Blakely now takes honors classes and values the atmosphere of these classes.
“I miss all my friends,” Blakely said. “But I don’t miss being put in those regular classes with people I don’t like.”
Across the Atlantic Ocean, sophomore Augustina Ezenagu left Nigeria to pursue a better education in America. She and her brother Augustine transferred from their Nigerian boarding school to Legacy so they would have more of an advantage in the future.
“I wanna be someone in the future, so we moved here,” Ezenagu said. “My dream is I want to become a medical doctor, but I hope I can complete it in the United States.”
Culture shock wasn’t as big an issue as might be expected, since Ezenagu already primarily speaks English and continues to practice Catholicism. She feels a lot of gratitude for her new life at Legacy.
“School was cool, it was nice,” Ezenagu said. “It’s different from here, because here is more good than Nigeria.”
Despite the fact that she prefers living here to Nigeria, Ezenagu still misses her life in Nigeria from time to time.
“Life was cool, it was good, it was happy, it was nice,” Ezenagu said. “I got everything I need. It was a cool place, and it’s where I was born and it’s where I grew up.”
Both Ezenagu and Blakely have adjusted well to Legacy and harbor no regrets about moving here.
“At first I didn’t want to, but now that I’ve had more experience here, I like it,” Blakely said.
