A Foray Into Foreign Affairs

Mia Vaughn is 14. She’s a freshman at Conifer that lives in Colorado, but with one interesting twist, she’s not “All American.” Vaughn did a 2 year stint living in London. Her family moved there in 4th grade, and had to drop everything in their lives. They shoved all of their worldly possessions into storage containers and left.

“I was definitely kind of attached to Conifer, but I didn’t have many ties here, so I could just be like ‘who cares’,” Vaughn said.

 This helped her to really appreciate being in a new place and not stay too attached to Conifer. It made the move a lot easier, too. Vaughn liked her time in London. Her family lived in a small flat with a garden near Abbey Road. Though she went to a public school she had to wear a uniform.

“The uniforms were kind of bad, then again, it’s kind of nice to be able to wake up and not think about what you’re wearing that day,” Vaughn said 

 One might find it strange that a family would leave the only place they’ve ever called home to live in a foreign country until they hear the reason for it. Vaughn’s father was called to move there for his job. He works for IBM, a company that leads the world in technological innovation and has a revenue of nearly 19 billion dollars.

“He does a lot of work, so for the most part he lives in London full time,” Vaughn said

Now Vaughn is back in Conifer, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, and is reportedly just as happy as ever. Vaughn isn’t sure what she wants to do herself when she grows up, despite her overachieving father. For now she wants to get good enough grades to keep her options open.