For many students, Hays High is big and offers several opportunities they wouldn’t find at other schools in the area, but for some students it actually seems small.

Junior Paige Polifka-Denson attended Hays High her freshman year before transferring to Cypress Woods High School in Cypress, Texas, close to Houston.

Known as Cy Woods, the school has over 3,000 students. This allowed the school to offer more opportunities for their student body.

“If I’m being honest, Cy-Woods offered lots of opportunities and chances to explore new things,” Polifka-Denson said. “There are like hundreds of clubs and organizations to be a part of. Hays High offers a lot, but I do miss the freedom to personalize every bit of my high school experience at Cy-Woods. The amount of niche classes offered and events was overwhelming. Every moment was filled with new opportunities and choices. Although that can be a bit overwhelming, especially for a new student, it was an incredible thing to be a part of.”

Polifka-Denson said that during her freshman year she thought Hays High was so cool, but after attending Cy Woods she couldn’t compare the two.

At Cy Woods, students could bring their own devices to class and even use their phones at the end of class sometimes.

Students also had separate lunch periods instead of eating lunch during a class. This allowed them to go to the library and do homework if they needed to.

“I didn’t really want to leave Cy-Woods, but it has been great to be back with my class and friends,” Polifka-Denson said.

Sophomore Emily Banks-Edgeman is originally from Washington State but has moved multiple times, most recently from Utah.

Banks-Edgeman said that she likes Hays so far though she has to adjust to the longer class periods. Because of the different curriculum in Utah, she is also talking integrated science as a sophomore because she took Biology her freshmen year.

“At my old school, I took Chinese because I wanted a challenge,” Banks-Edgeman said. “I wanted to learn a harder language than the ones I already learned. I was sad when I found out they didn’t have that here.”

While Banks-Edgeman was sad about losing some classes such as Chinese, she found new classes that she enjoyed.

“Something cool for me is GPS because I didn’t have that at my other school,” Banks-Edgeman said. “I like having that so I can at least get some of my work done.”

Senior Mia Phillips also lived in Hays before moving out of state to Colorado where she attended Cañon High School.

The school had over 1,000 students enrolled and allowed students to leave campus during lunch.

Phillips said that she liked the more advanced class choices here such as being able to work with kids in family studies class.

Phillips said that she decided to move back on her own to graduate so she could avoid out of state tuition for college.

“Sometimes living on your own makes you wish you could go back,” Phillips said. “But I’m doing what I believe is right for my future, so that’s all that matters.”

19rporter@usd489.com