ORANGE PARK – Angelica Yepez faced a different challenge than others when she moved from New Jersey to St. Johns Country Day School ahead of her junior year.

She was not the victim of a broken family, drug or physical abuse, or financial limitations. She didn’t have any learning disabilities, and she got good grades.

Angelica was on the volleyball and softball teams. She became so popular that she won the Miss St. Johns Pageant in her first year and was voted Class President in her senior year.

So, what was her challenge?

“I know exactly what it is – pork roll,” she said. “You don't get bread and bagels like you do up north. I always would go to the deli and get my pork roll – pork roast, salt, pepper, ketchup every Saturday, and you can’t get that here.”

While Angelica said the adjustments from the Jersey hustle to Southern charm are stark, she said her SJCD classmates eagerly embraced her.

“At first, they looked at me because I talked funny,” she said. “I had to catch myself. They didn’t make fun of me, but they looked at me like I was strange. Now I use my ‘professional’ voice to talk like them.”

Jersey politics, weather, ethnicity and popular tastes vary dramatically from Clay County.

“I learned about black-eyed peas here,” Angelica said. “I had no idea what that was. I thought it was a music group.”

And try to find a decent slice of pizza. Forget-about-it.

Angelicia picked St. Johns because it offered a program for linguistics, a field she plans to pursue in college.

The school also allowed her to start a Latin Dance Club (though she said you can count the number of fellow Latinos on one hand), but she said St. Johns was accommodating.

“St. Johns has such a great community because it's small,” Angelica said. “Our graduating class has about 50 students, so you were able to make friends pretty fast."

The school also allowed Angelica to start an independent study program after she suffered a severe concussion, which kept her from attending nearly six weeks of school. By working from home, she could graduate this week.

After that, she’s off to college.

“I'm going back up north, though, for college, but strictly because of the weather,” she said. “I can't do the weather here. I just can't take it.”

Or find a pork roll.