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Four vaccination shots, roughly 5,300 miles and a scant three weeks separate Eugene Hammond from his life in Ghana. But even though he has every reason to be nervous as he starts at Paint Branch High School in Silver Spring as a junior, he is a determined optimist about his new academic environment.

"You have to enjoy yourself," said Hammond, 16.

After growing up in the Lashibi section of Tema near Ghana's southern coast, he moved along with his parents and 15-year-old sister, Lois. His mother Emmabel, who has worked at the World Bank since 1995, worked in the U.S. for a year before receiving a full-time position at the bank in March. The siblings and their father Francis moved to Silver Spring this summer.

As students in Ghana, the brother and sister experienced an educational environment that was somehow Spartan and informal at the same time. While Paint Branch is a mere 15-minute walk from their current home, in Ghana the two often woke up at 4:30 a.m. to make the long drive to a school run by the country's military.

Students there didn't march in drills and twirl rifles, but they were exposed to the school's strict discipline, right down to its requirement for uniforms.

"There's a lot of discipline, in terms of character," Emmabel Hammond said. "With some of the things you read, there's less discipline here. You can see it in the way children dress."

At the same time, students in Ghana can attend any public school no matter where they live, according to Emmabel Hammond.

In Montgomery County, Eugene and Lois have been assisted by the school system's International Student Admissions Office. Over the summer, the office has dealt with about 1,700 incoming students accounting for 17 different languages, and last year helped about 6,000 international students navigate grade placement, English proficiency, and foreign birth certificates, according to the office's supervisor, Nivea Cordoba Barrios.

Class may have been out for the summer, but for Barrios and others in the office it was the busiest time of the year, as international families begin the complex process of enrolling in Montgomery County Public Schools.

"We are the first impression, the first point of entry the parents have," said Barrios, who was born in Puerto Rico and has worked in the office for eight years. "It is very important that they know that we are here to make that child successful from the beginning of the process."

At school in Ghana, Eugene and Lois had various vocational options awaiting them. Toward the end of senior high school, students could focus on general arts, visual arts or other technical subjects in their electives that led them into certain career paths.

They are waiting to see how the educational experience at Paint Branch is different. Lois is already trying to catch up with summer reading assignments, where she has an impressive variety to choose from. Options ranged from Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit" and Albert Camus' "The Plague" to a book from the Harry Potter series.

She is ready to join school clubs, although she isn't sure which ones yet.

As a student who achieved nearly perfect grades in her last school year in Ghana, Lois is determined to excel in the classroom, even as she adjusts to the social scene. She met some of her classmates at a recent Paint Branch orientation, but so far she's unsure about how she will adjust.

"I miss my friends," she said. She uses e-mail to help stay in touch with her former classmates in Tema.

But a change in countries has not translated into a change in career goals for Lois. She wants to be a human rights attorney.

Eugene is hoping for a career in criminal law. He said he's still adjusting to the pace of life in the U.S. and doesn't want to jump into anything immediately at Paint Branch. "Back in Ghana, let's say it's relaxed. You do things on your own time. No one rushes you," he said.

Barrios said her office has a wide net of community contacts to make sure families feel comfortable in their new neighborhoods while children adjust to a new country and new schools.

Whether they are dealing with an ambassador's wife or a child who has come to the county without parents, Barrios emphasized that they deserve the same level of treatment.

"It is important that they are successful regardless of their backgrounds," she said.

Emmabel Hammond said despite her constant concerns about how her children will adjust their new school, she tries to stick to her philosophy that good students will perform well in any environment.

"It all depends on the child," she said.