What's your high school like outside of academics!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>My high school is hilarious! <em>ahem</em> While keeping in mind academics of course. ;) No one here really takes themselves too seriously even though we're all pretty smart kids.</p>

<p>During our pep rally last year someone organized a dance contest and our valedictorian (she's a girl by the way) started dancing to "Teach Me How to Dougie" and then broke out break dancing in the middle of the gym floor. Then my Chemistry teacher ran out and started to dougie. Our valdictorian was pretty good! Chem teacher - not so much. Someone made cream pies and we had a contest to see who got a chance to throw it at some of the teachers.</p>

<p>All the social studies teachers have this prank battle going on. Last Christmas one of them took a Christmas tree and stuck it in the middle of another teacher's classroom and then flipped all the desks over in another room with some of his students.</p>

<p>Students can always organize stuff and teachers always go along with it. A couple times we did Purple Day for gays rights (even though we're Catholic and our new Principal is always giving some speech about how we have to 'keep that image') and once for a girl who died of cancer. We have our little traditions that are unwritten like 'tagging' during spirit week and girl's ALWAYS wear black to Junior Ring Ceremony.</p>

<p>My school's a pretty fun place! How are your school's like?</p>

2

<p>Ghetto hood. They played S and M by Rihanna over the intercom one day. -___-</p>

3

<p>Unbelievably preppy. Lacrosse is not just a sport, but a lifestyle. 2% minorities.</p>

4

<p>The number of students in my senior class really fluctuated. We started as 942 my freshman year, then ended up at a low of 696 last year, and we graduated as a class of 723, with only 680 getting to actually graduate. Classy, I know. It gives you a feel of the type of school this is. It’s large, urban, and diverse. There are also a very high number of people that would be commonly labeled as “hoodrats.” We have every clique from uber-preps to burned out scary looking metal heads represented. hoodrats, however, dominate the scene - low income kids who really don’t try in anything. </p>

<p>Then there’s the jocks… basically they’re full of themselves and they smoke pot all the time. The sober ones usually get good grades.
Crew jocks (rowers) are their own kind of jock. We’re the only school in a low income area I’ve seen with a crew team. They’re dedicated to their sport and they seem to set themselves apart to some extent.
There’s the bandgeeks/show choir geeks… which also do drugs and they are really often strange on so many levels. I actually have some good friends who do band and show choir who are sober and somewhat normal, however. </p>

<p>Socially, my high school is quite tolerant though. There’s a pretty active openly gay community within it and we represent a wide range of cultures, so we have to be tolerant. There are many Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese, Indian, Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Brazilian students as well as smaller numbers from all over Latin America and East Asia. There are African Americans as well as students from all over Africa (I’ve met people from Sudan, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Ivory Coast, and Ghana). I’ve also seen many that appear to be Middle Eastern. There are groups of girls in the halls wearing headscarfs and there’s definitely an Iraqi presence since there are two Iraqi restaurants in my town. </p>

<p>So yeah, we’re interesting. </p>

<p>The buildings need serious renovation though. The interior breeds apathy.</p>

5

<p>Half the guys are on the football team, a third of the people are stoners, and then there are some smart kids sprinkled in. People at our school hang out in rather different types of groups. We have a couple scene kids, but that’s where the normalcy ends.
-All the surfer kids (usually white and rich) hang out with each other.
-Then there are the professor’s kids (we have a small college a couple miles away from the school), who mix with the non-surfing, non-smoking, typically “good example” kids.
-Almost everyone else remaining is what people would consider a “moke”: Hawaiian (not ethnically, but they’re the ones who have families here dating back many generations), don’t-give-a-crap-about-anything kids. This group contains most of the football players and non-white smokers.
-As always, there are band geeks, loners, and other random groups.
The group structures are relatively week at our school. Pretty much anyone can hop into a whatever group of their choosing if they really want to. </p>

<p>Football, or athletics in general, is probably what our school is most known for. We always have athletes recruited into college, and a couple who have turned pro. 2/3 of our Wikipedia page talks about athletics. The other third is references, our alma mater, and demographics.</p>

<p>My school is small on CC standards. Less than 2,000 students form grades 7-12. My class is in a continual state of decline. (From 271 last year to 245 this year.) All in all, we’re nothing special – just one of our state’s worst schools with a stellar sports program. And asbestos somewhere.</p>

6

<p>I can sympathize with some of you. There’s are huge lacrosse and soccer culture and at the same time there’s and awesome drama program. Everyone’s cool with everyone. There are some people who purposefully try to ruin it but they’re brushed off for the most part. There are some fights though. One teacher literally was on the floor trying to separate 2 girls to the cafeteria :D. You can count the minorities but no one’s really notices to be honest. Our biggest drug problem is weed. No one’s really on hard drugs.</p>

<p>My school’s pretty rough around the edges visually too, compared to other private schools in our area anyway. Our teams walk into other schools and it’s literally like “IS THIS WHAT SCHOOL LOOKS LIKE! Oh look! They’ve actually renovated within the past 40 years!”</p>

7

<p>@chenoa Our school’s really tiny! 800 kids and there are 180 in my class!</p>

8

<p>^With our dropout rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if my class size dwindled to about 180 come graduation (in 2 years)</p>

9

<p>At my school everyone’s really driven and competitive. Almost entirely white and asian. Good public school with great community support. Graduation rate is usually are 97%. This past year 3/340 didn’t graduate. </p>

<p>But all most people care about is grades and getting into a good college. “Good” isn’t good enough, it has to be an Ivy. People miss out on a lot. Music’s big at my school as are a lot of sports too.</p>

<p>In all it was pretty dull and they treat students like little kids often times. I’m glad I’m graduated.</p>

10

<p>interesting answers iborpstan and chenoa :).</p>

11

<p>My school is out in the country haha. Its majority white (like 76 % white and 20% Mexican, 2,000 kids total). Alot of the kids at the school are stoners. There is dip in alot of the water fountains. For a prank last year a couple of guys broke every window in a wing(30,000 of damages) and were arrested. The social groups at my school is
*Band
*Stoners in Sports
*Rednecks
*Sports non stoners
*ROTC</p>

12

<p>We’re a small school, about 100 to 200 to a class. Large minority population (thankfully, I can’t STAND large amounts of white/WASPy people), about 15% Hispanic, 30% black, 10% Asian (mostly islanders). Most of us are pretty low-income, though some of the soccer players are a bit on the wealthier and preppier side. Not really any popularity hierarchy or anything like that - football players stick together, JROTC people stick together, baseball players stick together, etc., though I’d say soccer players are probably the most popular by a slight margin because they usually consist of the best looking and wealthiest people - although most of them are pretty quirky, fun, use drugs, so it’s kind of a weird group.</p>

<p>Most people don’t give a care about grades or colleges. Most don’t even know the rankings. Even kids in the top 10 usually acore between an 18 and a 23 on the ACT. Most kids join the military or attend a community college or one of the modest in-state public schools on graduation.</p>

13

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<p>I lol’d. Sounds like my school in the spring.</p>

<p>Anyways, me; public HS of about 800 kids, graduating class of ~210 (largest ever), 80% white, 6% asian, 14% black or latino (yes, I know they are two different groups). Unfortunately, most of that racial diversity does not come from the town itself; it comes from the local AFB and METCO. Which is kind of awkward sometimes because not a lot of kids from those places will come to school events, so it’s a sea of white people. Town is very upper middle-class, but there are apparently some lower middle-class people like myself kicking around (but I suppose that is relative considering we live NW of Boston). Again, most socioeconomic variety doesn’t come from the town.</p>

<p>In the fall, football is life (the only sports games I go to). Soccer team is pretty popular. In the winter, it’s all about basketball. In the spring, it’s all about LAX, man. We are big on athletics but unfortunately there is a lack of school spirit. Our music department is getting a lot of recognition because the marching band went to Disney for a festival and they’re doing really well. I’ve gotten to know kids in the band and they’re actually not as bad as I thought they were (most of the ones I had known were snobs).</p>

<p>Everyone is pretty friendly to each other, but people stick to their groups - music kids w/ the artsy people, jocks, slackers/stoners (fortunately there are not many, but a lot of people here have smoked pot or drank at least once and think they’re hardcore - I am thankfully not one of those people), JROTC kids (represent!), and a lot of people stick together with their geographical area. I hang out primarily with my JROTC people but I prefer to mingle and try to bring as many new people in as possible because we get a lot of them every year (dozen+).</p>

<p>Graduation rate of 99%, yada yada, 100% passing on the MCAS (first school to have done that, apparently), 93% of people go on to college. We sent two kids to MIT this year (at least, that I know of), one of those two also got accepted to Harvard and turned that down, but just about everyone goes to great colleges, except the dozen or so that are lazy and don’t do anything/sign up for the local CC (which i’ll admit, gets a bad rap but so do the kids that go there).</p>

14

<p>MCAS? A fellow Massachusetts high schooler <3. Unlike your high school, hardly anyone who isn’t set to graduate in the top 1% ever even has a chance at the Ivies or Ivy+ schools and as a group we fail at the MCAS (I’ve heard the statistics, but I can’t find them online, and frankly, I just remember they’re low), which is really an easy test, and any SAT over 1900 is basically awesome, and my 2150 is basically unheard of unless we’re talking about the few who are in the top of their class (I was around the top 6 percent, but believe me, it’s not as impressive as it would be in more competitive high schools). A lot of the students who graduate either end up at Middlesex Community College or a 3rd tier private college, while the more decent students usually end up at Umass Lowell or Umass Amherst, but I thought this thread wasn’t about academics… Oh well, this is CC.</p>

15

<p>Well, I have a very tiny school. We are a charter school and my class (sophomore) has 84 kids in it…yep. So basically, you know the names of everyone in the high school. Everyone in our grade is fairly friendly with each other. Like, we don’t have that whole “mean girl” clan that I have seen in movies like…Mean Girls. Of course, we still have people in our grade who would be considered a bit weird.</p>

<p>We’re all pretty smart. I think we all pass the MCAS every year. Lots of people got the National Spanish and Latin exam awards. Sports are okay for us. Football…sucks. Volleyball…eh. Crew is pretty good. Swim is AMAZING, though some people on the team are kind of cocky about it. Only some though, because I have some friends on the team. Boys basketball is pretty good. They made it to the state tournament these past two years, though they always get eliminated first round. The team won’t be as good next year though because all the really tall and skilled players graduated. Girls basketball is pretty good. We made it to the tournament. No seniors graduating, woo! More sports, etc., etc.</p>

<p>All in all, the school is pretty quaint. Everyone knows each other and everyone is civil with one another. But REALLY small. Needless to say, I will have trouble surviving in a HUGE school.</p>

16

<p>Our school is very preppy. We are basically the best at spreading rumors…</p>

17

<p>^The Asians at my school don’t really talk to anyone else but to other Asians. I tried talking to one, and she dissed me… They sort of just sit at one table and think they’re better than everyone else. But I do have one Asian friends, he’s really cool.</p>

18

<p>I would have to say, earth-shatteringly average.</p>

<p>Academics, average. Pretty good for this school system, but overall average. But we have some GREAT sports programs, and that isn’t just football. The athletics programs cause there to be a lot of school spirit. And basically everyone participates, even if you’re a nerd like me and sit near the band because they’re awesome. </p>

<p>We have GREAT arts programs. Like every music contest, art festival, theatre festival, or dance competition, we’re bringing home some awards. But like most public school programs, they’re all HORRIBLY underfunded. We have one of the best marching bands in the state, no lie.</p>

<p>The facilities and equipment here can only be described as godawful. Even in the “new” building (new=2004) things are falling apart. In the old building, kids with allergy probelms can easily have them set off by the mold and mildew that abounds. Food, typical to high school, just sucks. I had to stop eating it. There’s barely any use of technology in class. There’s slow, old computers running Windows XP. I’ve been to most other schools in this county, their libraries all make our library look as awful as it really is. </p>

<p>Diversity, pretty much equal to the city we’re in as far as percentages. There’s about 1800 students, and the breakdown is about 50% White/40% Black/7% Hispanic/3% Asian. Also economically, ranges from the very rich to very poor, and everything in between. And there’s academic diversity, there’s kids who take all APs planning to go to top universities, kids taking tech classes to go on to Community Colleges, plenty of kids heading to state schools, and a fair number of kids who probably won’t graduate, and on the off chance they manage to they probably won’t do anything useful.</p>

<p>Because of the above mentioned diversity, we have pretty much every clique imaginable. Ghetto kids, preps, jocks, nerds, rednecks. We’ve got them ALL. But one thing I’ve always been proud of is how many clubs there are, how many students participate, and how easy it is for any student to just start one. We have some club sports, athletic clubs, cultural clubs, and service organizations. There was always a women’s a cappella group, but no men’s. Some guys started one and it got so much attention after the ‘unofficial’ concert that the school made it official. </p>

<p>It becomes clear very quickly which rules we are actually expected to follow and which we aren’t. Our school tends to be very strict in some areas and not so much in others. And it depends on the teacher, but generally it’s a schoolwide thing. No cell phones in class, no vandalizing or littering, no loud profanity, and no bullying are examples of rules to actually follow. Finger-tip length shorts, don’t leave campus for lunch, and possessing MP3 players are all rules that seem to be up for negotiation. We really have very little identity other than the great athletics. Like, no traditions, really, or legends. There’s “Freshman Friday,” and we totally have a pool on the roof. But we don’t do anything cool as a school, just typical pep rallies and presentations. </p>

<p>So yeah, that’s the lengthy summary of my wonderful high school. There are parts of it I’ll miss, and plenty of parts I won’t. Our student body president did quote Kanye West in his graduation speech. That takes some serious class.</p>

19

<p>I go to a magnet school for creative and preforming arts, which sort of sums it all up. Until last year the school mascot was the rainbow unicorn despite us having 0 sports teams. In gym class we do yoga, kayaking and fishing as a part of the curriculum and in math we do art projects (most recently we had to design an image by writing/graphing polynomial equations). Oh and in Health 1 we watched old episodes of Digrassi and wrote essays about how they are inaccurate. My school is sort of crazy which is why I love it.</p>

20

<p>Large school, over 2800 students and diverse–26% Asian and 24% White are the largest groups. High test scores despite its large size.</p>

<p>Sports and class competition is a big hit, we compete in floatbuilding, powderpuff, dress up days, rallys, skits, and various ice breaker type games. We get a few singers to come each year for lunchtime. Administration is strict however of students doing pranks, selling class T-shirts without going through the school first, and the happenings with students outside of school time.</p>

<p>The popular people are those involved in ASB and Link Crew and participate in the main school activities… In my “clique” a shrinking chunk of the overall population, are academic competitions and Key Club. We’ve had many first place in the county competition for Mathletes, AIME qualifiers, 2nd or 3rd in the state Science Olympiad as a team, 2 KC International Trustees in three years, success in Aca Dec, people going to Europe to deliver speeches… A coach got a better job, motivated geniuses graduated… This year we barely got into the top 10 at regionals SciOly ( I was the only junior on the team) In mathletes, We often have to put an Algebra 2 Junior that is barely passing as the tenth team member as before getting on the team was competitive. Senior year is upcoming for me, I really hope the school is on a cycle back to its former glory and we draw more people from the I know is smart population to participate.</p>