When her family moved here in July, Clara Jane was the new kid in Crestline, but sitting on her front stoop with her, you’d never know it. Our conversation is peppered with interruptions — “Clara Jane, come be in our race!” — “Clara Jane, where’s your brother?” — “Clara Jane, are you almost done talking so you can play with us?!?” The first-grader says this is her favorite thing about living in Crestline — there are 20 kids on her street, and something fun is always happening.

“In Nashville, the way I played with friends was this: my mom called their mom, and then they got dropped off, and then she called them back and they went home,” she explains. “Here, I just walk over and knock on Prim’s door.  The only time it can be hard is if I want to watch TV, and kids keep telling me to come outside.”

Even with all the kids around, Clara Jane acknowledges that being new in town isn’t always easy. There were a lot of things to get used to, like Phonics and lockers. She met a group of other first-grade girls at a back-to-school party, but only one of them wound up in her class. So she was really nervous on the first day of school but credited her teacher Mrs. Summerow with making the transition easier.  

If you have new neighbors, Clara Jane says even grownups can make new friends! Her suggestions for welcoming new families to Crestline include the following:

“Once you find a new friend, everything feels better,” she says with a smile.