No one quite gets it when you say you go to (or went to) Westlake Christian Academy. People think you just went to another average small, private, Christian school. But Westlake is not just another average private school, it is so much more than that.

So, this is for the students who know all these things far too well and for those who need a little help realizing how special Westlake is.

1. Uniforms

We may have all complained about having to wear/buy the approved Westlake polo, but it sure made getting ready in the morning way faster. Let's not forget about the puke yellow polo that only a select few people wore and everyone judged.

2. Dress Down Days

Those glorious dress down days every other Thursday were the highlight of the week. Even if you had to pay a $1, it was always worth it. We used any excuse to get a DDD. Turn in enough Box Tops of Education, win a dress down day. Win the high school retreat, three days of dressing down.

3. Dollar Donut Days

Praying everyday in Miss Snow's class for someone to get the hedge of protection was an absolute must. Sometimes it was given to a whole class and sometimes to a celebrity. Who is to question when the Lord speaks?

5. Pledges

We didn't just say (or sometimes sing) the Pledge of Allegiance. No, we also pledged to the Christian flag and the Bible like some kind of cult.

6. Chapel

If remembering one schedule wasn't enough we had to remember two-- one for regular days and one for chapel days. Let's also not forget the time they changed chapel and in doing so cut the number of songs we sang in half and pushed lunch back.

7. The Big Blue Bus

This baby took us to every sporting event, music event, and field trip you could imagine. It was a great day when it didn't break down along the way and an even greater day when the heater was finally fixed.

8. The Gym

With a gym not even high school regulation size, it was a great home court advantage (and great for running suicides), but basketball away games on real sized courts was a killer on the lungs.

9. Basketball

Regardless of always having a losing season, basketball season was the highlight of the year. From long away games to superfanning, playing and watching the games will always be something I hold dear to my heart.

10. Lifers

Lifers are those kids that have attended Westlake since Prekindergarten and have been there longer than most of the teachers. There's always one in every class and they always brag about it at graduation.

11. Home Run Kids

Our rivalry with HRK goes far beyond just us losing every single game we played against them. It was a deep-seeded hatred that mostly stemmed from them being cheaters and using "homeschooled" and college-aged students.

12. Class Size

When people try to say that they went to a small high school, they just don't get it. Our class was considered a big if we had more than 15 people in it. With a graduating class of nine and a smallest class size of three, I say we were pretty small.

13. Sports Teams

Westlake is probably the only school where there is more girls sports than guys sports and where literally the whole student population is a three sport athlete. While our loses may have always out totaled our wins, it never stopped us from loving the game.

14. Tie Day Friday

Once a year everyone came in to school with a tie on for no reason other than we wanted to. This also might be the biggest school wide rebellion (since it was technically against dress code) that ever happened at Westlake.

15. Dress Code

Forget tank tops ladies or anything that wasn't tip of the knee or lower. Dress code was so strictly enforced that not even guys could wear white v-necks. Sometimes you had to remind yourself that it was okay to wear spaghetti straps at home on a hot day.

16. Teachers

Our teachers weren't only teachers. They were our coaches, guidance counselors, they taught multiple subjects, and some were even professors, pastors, but most importantly they were like our friends.

17. Classroom Learning

With class sizes so small it is easy to distract teachers. Half the time teachers were like, "Hey check this funny video on YouTube" during the middle of class.

18. History Class

History class with Mr. Hobbie was about as rough as it gets especially if you had his class right in the middle of the day. You may thank the senior class of 2015 for current event days and the fake trial that is actually fun and takes up multiple class periods.

19. PDA

There is no PDA. Ever. High-fives can even get you in trouble, and don't even think about hugging the opposite sex.

20. Formals

Dancing is also an absolute no. Homecoming and Spring Fling have always been the farthest thing away from a dance, take white water rafting or skiing for an example.

21. Westlake Dating

One does not just simply date at Westlake. There's a unspoken rule that says you can't, except for the few couples that don't seem to understand it exists. Instead you Westlake date which is basically dating without actually going on dates or making it official.

22. Graduation

You would think with a class of nine that graduation would be a quick deal. No, Westlake drags it out to a full two hours. Every single person must have a biography written about them and read along with a keynote speaker, in addition to the usual valedictorian and salutatorian speeches with personalized tables and cake afterwards.

23. Breaking Out Into Song

School was literally like a High School Musical movie. Someone could start singing the tune of a song and soon the whole secondary students would join in no mater where - the bus, lunch room, hallways, even the classroom.

24. Secrets

Secrets? What are secrets? Everybody knew everything about everybody at Westlake, even the teachers. It didn't matter what you did, soon enough everyone was going to find out.

25. Lunch Room Tables

At the beginning of the school year every class or friend group picks a lunch table. After that, it is that group's official table. Try to steal it and risk death.

26. The Students

All the students were like family. It didn't matter what grade you were, everyone treated everyone like they were best friends.

27. The Flour Baby Project

Most high schools have some sort of electronic baby to use for this sort of project, but since Westlake is too poor, we had to buy our own bags of flour to use. The assortment of strange looks was endless.

28. The High School Retreat

Since we're so much like family it's only appropriate that we have almost a week set aside to go to a camp in the middle of nowhere and bond. We compete between classes in a Wipeout like obstacle course, class skits, and minute to win it challenges.

29. New Kids

The beginning of the school year is the biggest deal of the whole year because it's when you get to meet all the new kids. The attack launched on them to get to know them and be friends has been described as terrifying.