What was your high school like?

[J Dog]

In lieu of the "What were you?" and "Does it matter?" threads, I thought I'd make a thread in which we'd talk about our high schools.

So, feel free to describe it. What was it? Inner-city public? Suburban private?

[Boldido]

I went to a public high school near Cleveland. It was in an upper middle class suburb and was constantly ranked in the top five in the area. We had a very diverrse student body. We had Irish Catholic white kids, italian catholic white kids, english protestant white kids and two jewish white kids. There were a couple of indian kids (I think they were catholic too). I remember one black kid in the whole high school, his name was Bubba (I swear I'm not making this up) and was a star on the football team as a senior when I was a freshman. I graduated in '87 so preppy was the style of the day at may school.

[Valmore]

I went to a public high school in Cape May County, New Jersey. To those not in the know, Cape May County is a touristy area where all of the clean beaches in New Jersey are, as well as a short drive to Atlantic City. For being a predominantly white county, we had a fairly good racial mixture of both African-American and Caucasian students, probably 35% to 65% (which, believe me, for a school in Cape May County is very diverse). We were known for having a great marching band and basketball teams - while I was there, the boys and girls teams both won two state titles in a row.

Our mascot was the black panther and our colors were orange and black. I graduated in 1995, during the height of the grunge movement, despite Kurt Cobain's suicide.

[Winslow]

I attended a moderate-sized city school in a capital city in a manufacturing town in the midwest (probably should have broke that sentence up).

I graduated in 1980 *starts to chant, "80, 80, 80, 80"* (ahh the old pep rallies)

It was about 40% black and 60% white at the time. Due to "white flight" form the city in the 80's and 90's, it's mostly black now.

The high school building was constructed in 1945, and was beautiful. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Terazzo floors, wood millwork, tiled walls (http://sexton.lansingschools.net/history/tiles/tiles.htm) . . .and a cool clock tower.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c103/WinslowSolomon/sextonpic.jpg

My high school had a rough reputation - and white kids from the burbs were amazed I wasn't afraid to attend school there. heh.

Nods to Vamore: My high school was public. Our colors were Red and White. Our mascot was "The Big Reds" (Indian - amazing it's still the name) - at the time we excelled at basketball, wrestling, and track. Football was "up and down."

[J Dog]

I am currently going to a high school in Indianapolis. It's a public high school, and it's located near downtown. It only takes a few minutes to get there. We basically have bad atheletics, and the food is not that good (it is not even prepared here; it comes from another source).

But, I am proud of the herritage, and the convinence of just walking to it.

[BlairH]

I went to Cumnock Academy. An absolutely awesome school.

The attached photo was taken in my final year (Advanced Higher Physics)Yes, that is me wrapped in tin-foil, I am fully aware that I look like something from Silent Hill. I was attempting to prove the concept of the Farraday cage by voluenteering to step into THE SUIT and be "shocked" by a makeshift tazer.

The other male in the picture is Matt Farvolden. The coolest (and only) Canadian I know. Our advanced Higher Physics class worshiped him as a God for some reason.

Lucky for me, Farraday was right...

[Davideaux]

I attended a small private school in Haiti, founded by missionaries. The school was K-12 and had 300 students total when I graduated. Most of the kids were Haitian but around 40% were white Americans with missionary parents. We had athletic teams but we kept getting beat by the other Haitian schools, especially in soccer and basketball. There was one other school that had an American style educational system on the island; they were our rivals in everything. That school was more expensive and was founded by American businessmen in Haiti, rather than missionaries.

The education at our school was Christian (Protestant), in that we had a Bible class every morning. The remainder of the classes were what you'd find in the US. Most of the teachers and administration were American, with a few Canadians on board. We only had 2 or 3 Haitian teachers. The school has American accreditation and so most of the graduates were able to go to American colleges seamlessly.

[Your Imaginary Pal]

I went to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art & the Performing Arts, the HS the movie & TV show Fame was based on.

NYC public school on the upper west side, project buildings on one side, Lincoln Center on the other.

I studied Art there, it had a pretty good curriclum, & a supportive environment.
The Dance majors wore leatards all day and their classes are on the same floor as the art department. A thing of Beauty.

AHHH good times.

[Slam_Bradley]

I went to the only high school in the county. Everyone in the county (and parts of three others) went to school there. There were about 270 in my graduating class (which was the biggest of the four years at any point I was in high school). It was roughly 75% white and 25% Hispanic at the time.

The school is celebrating its 50th birthday this year.

[Shellhead]

I am currently going to a high school in Indianapolis. It's a public high school, and it's located near downtown. It only takes a few minutes to get there. We basically have bad atheletics, and the food is not that good (it is not even prepared here; it comes from another source).

But, I am proud of the herritage, and the convinence of just walking to it.

You've actually heard of my high school, 'cause I went to school in Indy. But I graduated in '83, so maybe North Central has changed over the years. When I went there, it was a big suburban high school that was naturally integrated, with maybe 20% of the student body black and maybe another 10% jewish. They had a great academic reputation, a good football team, a bad basketball team (racist coach), and a separate building for vo-tech classes (like auto repair and print shop). A few years after I graduated, I heard that they were having some gang problems, and a crazy student burned the school library down. I hope things are better these days.

EDIT: Answering the original question, for those who don't live in Marion County, Indiana...

North Central is a big suburban high school, with close to 4,000 students. When I went there, they had an alternative education program for the theatre types, plus an extensive curriculum of accelerated classes for college prep. They offered all the standard classes, but also had some exotic (by American standards) language classes like Hebrew and Chinese. They also had some great elective classes, like Etymology and Critical Thinking. The school district encompassed an incredible range of students, from rich kids living in mansions to poor kids on food stamps. The school mascot was a Black Panther.

Our biggest sports rival was Carmel, an upper middle class public school that was 100% white, on the other side of the county line. Carmel had a strong athletic program, but mediocre academics. Our battle cry at North Central vs Carmel sporting events was "Death to the Golden Ghetto!"

[Paradox]

I went to high school in Michigan in the late '70s. Therefore...


















EVERYONE was stoned (including a small portion of the faculty).

Made things kinda mellow, actually...

[dingo]

My high school had an unusual quirk. It was built at a time that the education department had been given a grant for the arts or some such. Apparently gutters did not fit in with the architects artistic vision. So any time it rained you got absolutely soaked anytime you went from building to building. The only saving grace is that being in Australia, it doesn't rain too often.

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

inner-city and all the stereotypical problems that comes with it.uninterested kids,indiferent teachers,lots of pregnant girls,outdated computers and book.the school is falling apart litteraly and figertivly.the white kids and other races hung by themselve etc.

[Naldo]

I went to a private school in the Los Angeles suburbs. Built on the site of a country club it was a beautiful school, extremely high academic standards and really a terrific place to be. My graduating class was 59 students.

Tuition this year is $26,000.

As I mentioned in another thread, this is the school that spawned "Less Than Zero" both the author and the people depicted in the novel were all students there, in the grade below me.

[BoosterBronze]

We had nationally covered "Race Riots" in 1994, and former President Gerald Ford came and spoke to us in 1997. It was an interesting four years and a very racially and economically mixed school of 2000 students.

[BlairH]

My high school had an unusual quirk. It was built at a time that the education department had been given a grant for the arts or some such. Apparently gutters did not fit in with the architects artistic vision. So any time it rained you got absolutely soaked anytime you went from building to building. The only saving grace is that being in Australia, it doesn't rain too often.

It must have looked awesome though. Like a glass wall pouring down from above!

[dingo]

It must have looked awesome though. Like a glass wall pouring down from above!

Yeah, I have to admit it was quite nice but the practicalities soon changed your mind.

But even better was the first rain of season, where some of the girls were still wearing t-shirts. Ahhhh the memories.

[BlairH]

But even better was the first rain of season, where some of the girls were still wearing t-shirts. Ahhhh the memories.

Don't get a nostalgia hard-on too fast! Most of them girls would have been jail bait.

[dingo]

Don't get a nostalgia hard-on too fast! Most of them girls would have been jail bait.

Yeah, but so was I at the time. Or something.