Changing schools is hard. You're not wrong to feel that.

You've been through it before. You've had to walk into a new school not knowing anyone, figuring out where everything is, wondering if people will like you. That's genuinely hard — and it makes complete sense that you don't want to do it again.

Your survey told us exactly where you are. Switching schools? NOT REALLY. Excited about new? NAH. Happy at Parkhurst? IT'S FINE. Making friends is HARD. We read every one of those. We believe you. We're not going to pretend otherwise.

This letter isn't us telling you that you already know MICS is right. You don't. We're telling you what we see that you may not see yet — and asking you to trust us with it.

God goes before you into every new place.

Here's something worth holding onto: in the Bible, God never sent His people somewhere without going ahead of them first. He doesn't wave goodbye from where you were comfortable and safe. He's already at where you're going — preparing it, setting things in motion, arranging the people and the moments you don't even know about yet.

If you walk into MICS, you won't be walking in alone. The new hallways, the new classrooms, the new lunch tables — He's already been there. And the same God who's been with you through every hard thing you've already lived through walks in with you.

That's not a small thing. That's everything.

God has always moved His people on purpose.

You know your Bible. Think about the people God called to do something great — almost none of them stayed where they were comfortable.

None of them asked to be moved. All of them were glad they were.

Moving isn't a punishment. Sometimes it's a promotion — God moving you toward the place where you'll actually become who He made you to be.

Parkhurst isn't bad. Your survey said it's fine — and we believe you. You have 3–5 friends there. Your teachers know you. The routines work. Those are real, and we're not pretending they aren't.

But from where we sit — as the people who watch you grow every day and know what's in you — we see something you may not see yet. "Fine" is the word of something that works. It isn't the word of something that's building you. At 12 years old, we want more than fine for you. We see a kid who's curious, sharp, and capable of more than he's being asked for. And we'd rather walk you through a hard door now than watch the next four years pass on comfortable autopilot.

Here's what MICS has — and what your own answers said about it.

We went back to your survey. These are the places where what MICS offers lines up with what you told us matters.

Making friends is hard for you. And you still made two in one day.

You told us in the survey that making new friends is HARD. We believe you. We're not going to pretend it's easy or that you're going to walk in and have a lunch table on day one.

But something else showed up in the survey, and it's worth holding onto: on your shadow day, you met 2 boys at MICS. You weren't trying to make friends. You were surviving an unfamiliar day. And you still ended it with two real connections. That's not proof you'll love MICS tomorrow. It's proof that when you walk in, you don't disappear.

You have 3–5 friends at Parkhurst right now. That matters, and we're not pretending it doesn't. What you'd have at MICS on day one is Eli, plus the boy from shadow day. That's two people — fewer than you have now. But it isn't zero, and you've already shown you know how to build from there.

Your steps are being held, Westin. The stumbles — the hard transitions, the moments of not knowing where you fit — those aren't proof that something is wrong. They're proof that something is being built. God doesn't waste the hard parts. He uses every single one of them.

Every school you've been to has shaped you. Every hard start has made you stronger and more adaptable than most kids your age will ever be. That's not a small thing. That's God working.

Be strong and courageous, Westin.

God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to be purposeful. We're not going to tell you that you already know MICS is right — your own survey said you don't feel that way, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. What we're asking is different: that you trust the people who have watched you grow every day of your life, when we say we see something you can't quite see from where you're standing.

You don't have to be happy about this today. You don't have to be excited tomorrow. You just have to walk through the door and let God — and us — do the rest.