“My old school was a private school in the middle of New Delhi. It was filled with rich kids, and the demographic was very, very narrow. But here in Bellaire, there’s so many people you can make so many different connections with so many different types of people. The kind of variety in friendships you can make is not something you would find in a private school. 

Bellaire is a very diverse school not just in terms of race but also in terms of demographics, social class, wealth, income and background. Getting to know so many different kinds of people really helps make you more open minded and more knowledgeable about the world. That’s what Bellaire has given me even though I’ve lived in so many different places. It has definitely helped me become a more global citizen. I wish I came earlier [instead of this year]. 

I used to be a pretty non-talkative, shy person, and I definitely came out of that in Bellaire. I learned how to talk to different people and be more sociable, and that’s going to help me in the real world.

My old school had four hundred kids, and I thought, ‘Wow, how am I going to [do this]? I don’t like any of these people. They don’t like me. It’s over for me.’ But then I came to Bellaire and there’s three and a half thousand kids, so I was bound to find someone that I liked to be around eventually.

[It’s] not too hard to make friends with people [who’re] in your classes. You can start talking to them and get to know them. The biggest challenge is [getting] into a friend group because friend groups [have] been built since elementary or middle school, so these kids have known each other for five, maybe even seven or eight years. 

You just have to understand that they don’t know you and you just popped into their lives out of nowhere. You have to understand that some people might be hesitant to accept [you], and you have to not take it personally if people aren’t super nice to you right away. You have to give them time to eventually get to know you. 

I have also learned a lot about myself [at Bellaire]. I know it sounds corny, but I’ve learned a lot about how to put [myself]  out there and be more visible in the world. 

I’m starting to be a little less self conscious. I’m starting to care less about little things that don’t matter. And it’s a process. It takes time. Before, I would overthink the smallest things and it would irrationally stop me from doing things I wanted to do. I’ve slowly been getting rid of that mentality once I realized that people will still accept me for who I am even if I start doing things that are not the norm. I could be a bit more free and open minded with myself.

One specific thing I [did was that] I started posting my guitar clips on my Instagram stories @maurya.mnjnth. It’s a small step, but it’s a step. Before, I wouldn’t post it because I thought ‘Oh, no one cares. People will think I’m trying to show off. People will think I’m weird.’ But now I really do want to show off. I’m good at [the guitar]. I want you to see. If you don’t care, then you don’t care. It doesn’t matter. The people who do care will like it, and they’ll tell me they appreciate it. 

One piece of advice I have is to stop caring. If you try too hard and take things too seriously, it becomes stressful and harder on yourself. Take things lightly. Don’t care about what other people think about you. Do what you want. Just be chill.”