Her classmates are like family

Jennifer Murdock has a big change coming to her when she attends college this fall: namely, her first new school in 13 years.

The salutatorian at Liberty Christian School started at the private campus in kindergarten and remained there through the 12th grade. A few of the people she’ll graduate with tonight also stuck it out the entire way — though even the ones who joined in later years feel like family by now.

So Murdock, 17, didn’t have to deal with the typical freshman agony of getting used to a new campus and a crowd of strangers. By her own admission, though, she was often shy when she started the ninth grade. Over the next four years, she overcame that as she signed up for the cheer squad, acted in plays and did community service with a campus club.

This fall, she plans to attend Biola University and study business. She’s excited to move on, but sad to leave her Liberty Christian family behind.

“I’ve known them forever,” she said. “But our whole class now is really close, and we’re all really good friends.”

— Michael Miller