If you live or have ever lived in Danbury, Connecticut chances are that you probably went to Danbury High School, as it is one of the two high schools in the city. My four years at DHS flew by but I can honestly say that I had a great time there. From cheering in the Hatters’ Hooters section at football games, becoming involved in the clubs, to participating in the annual spirit week, here are 10 things I and most likely every recent Hatter learned from going to DHS.

1. Parking is and always will be crazy.

If you are able to make it through four years at DHS without getting into a fender bender consider yourself lucky. Parking was, is and probably always will be a hassle and you can always guarantee that there will be stand-still traffic either getting to school in the morning or trying to leave at the end of the day. Although being able to drive to school your junior and senior year is pretty great.

2. Diversity is a good thing.

With such a huge student body, it is possible to hear over 50 different languages when walking through the halls at DHS. Nothing is more interesting than learning about the different cultures and backgrounds that make up our student body. Yes, we are often the target of stereotypes but DHS’s diversity is what makes it so unique.

3. The fire alarm will go off multiple times throughout the year.

The fire drill can go off for several reasons: it’s a real drill, someone burnt popcorn, the elevator got stuck or something leaked in the chem lab. But whoever keeps pulling the alarm when it’s snowing and 20 degrees outside, stop. Just stop.

4. There will be the occasional traffic jam in the hallway.

There’s nothing like 3,000 students all trying to get through the same door in five minutes or less in order to make it to their next class on time. Even though there are two doors you can use (one for people walking into the hallway, and one for those walking out) people will still insist on only using one door. That, my friends, results in a DHS hallway traffic jam and a safety advocate coming to direct people where to go.

5. Responsibility.

With so many students and classes, you need to be responsible for finding your teacher if you need extra help in class. Each teacher and guidance counselor probably has over 100 students, so if you need advice or help it is your responsibility to go find it. Everyone at DHS is there to help you, from the guidance counselors, the tutoring center, the career center, teachers and more. If you are proactive and ask for help, there will always be someone more than happy to help you. Before you know it college will be just around the corner and these skills are important to have.

6. Make sure you get to graduation 3 hours ahead of time.

Ahh graduation. Having experienced this recently I can definitely advise anyone going to get there well before it actually starts. Around three thousand to four thousand people show up for graduation so when they say parking is limited, parking is really limited. Graduation has always started at exactly 5:00 so in order to ensure you get a good seat, and a good parking spot, it would probably be best to get there around 2:00 the latest.

7. It's freezing in the winter and sweltering in the summer.

With the school having 5 different buildings, it’s almost impossible to have consistent heat in the winter. If you have classes in A building, make sure you bring a winter coat, scarf, hat and gloves in order to stay warm. On the other hand during the summer get ready to sweat because there is only air conditioning in the library, computer labs, and the auditorium. And if you think that your class will get moved to one of those locations, think again because 9 times out of 10 they are already booked.

8. The Danbury High School wall mural outside the gyms is/was pretty iconic.

I think that for most of us, we didn’t realize how special this wall was until it was taken down a few weeks ago (*tears*). Painted by NAHS, this wall has stood outside of the gyms and welcomed anyone who walked by it to our school. It was the ramp that we all walk down for graduation, a meeting place for after school activities, and a symbol of our school spirit. I personally hope they are able to re-build and paint another mural.

9. Get involved!

It sounds corny and probably something that your parents have nagged you about but I would definitely recommend getting involved in some of the clubs at DHS. With over 30 clubs to choose from, there is definitely something you can find that will interest you. Being involved in clubs really showed me the community feel of DHS. Not to mention, involvement also looks good on the good ol’ college resume.

10. The teachers all rock.

With over 200 hundred teachers you’re bound to find one or two that are your favorites. I think that the best things about the teachers here at DHS is that they really try to connect with you. There are so many cool classes you can take with equally cool teachers that teach them.

My four years at Danbury High School flew by but I couldn’t imagine going to high school anywhere else. For those who are still there, have a great time and for those who have graduated don’t forget that once a hatter, always a hatter.