I've written about growing up in a small town before, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that with small towns come small high schools. When I say small, I mean graduating classes of 150 students or less. Going to a large university, many of my friends went to huge high schools and just don’t understand what life is like in a small-town public high school. Here’s a shout out to everyone who knows what the tiny high school experience is like!
1. You literally know the name of every person you walk past in the hallway.
2. You personally know most of the people you walk past in the hallway.
3. On your way to class, you say "hi" to at least 10 other students, three teachers, a principal, and a custodian.
4. You have been in just about every classroom in your school building and know where every single teacher is located.
5. You know every teacher’s first name.
6. When you were little, you never thought teachers lived at school because you knew where most of your teachers lived.
7. You know the name of your teacher’s spouse and children.
8. You know what classes many of your teachers will be teaching each period.
9. You know the vast majority of your peers’ parents.
10. Teachers not only know you by who your older siblings are, but also by who your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and neighbors are.
11. There were enough parking spots and few enough students for everyone to park in the school’s parking lot.
12. When one person did not park in their assigned spot, the whole school knew about it by third period.
13. The whole school knew about anything that happened by third period.
14. You knew when you would pass certain people in the hallways on the way to class every day.
15. Many classes only had one section and you had most of your classes with your friends.
16. Every single friend group had one lunch table that they sat at all four years of high school.
17. Stupid rumors were started about you on more than one occasion.
18. When someone did something stupid, the whole school would know about it for years after the incident.
19. Many of your teachers knew you before you ever even had a class with them.
20. The whole town attends the high school’s sporting events.
21. There was a lot of pressure to play well in your sports games because literally the entire school was watching every time.
22. Drama was sure to occur every Friday in the fall when the football team gave their jerseys to girls to wear.
23. The “popular” kids were the same kids who were popular since kindergarten.
24. Everyone’s name was announced and their awards were given to them at graduation, and it was still over in less than two hours.
25. Several times a week, you swore you hated your school and couldn’t wait to graduate.
26. You can’t imagine a high school experience that was any different.
