Philadelphia Central High School was a special place to get my education, and I feel immense pride whenever I tell people I went there. Now that I am older and more aware of the tumultuous condition of the school district, I am even more appreciative that Central provided me with the best education in the city despite the limited resources they work with. Besides the awesome education and diversity (both of which I now know to be rare in public schools), CHS grads get to join a line of scholars that they share a bond with — no matter what class number we graduated with, we are all Central alumni. So as I approach my graduation from college, I'd like to throw back to my high school days and dedicate a list to what it means to be a Central student.

1. We all rolled in freshman year knowing we were smart because we got into Central

2. But we quickly learned that we were no longer the shining stars we were in middle school, because we were surrounded by a sea of smart kids.

3. We all rocked that turtle look when we got our books freshman year:

4. And once we were older, we celebrated "freshman day" by being mildly obnoxious to the youngsters

Freshman like, "No please, allow me."

5. We got to appreciate the beauty of the lunch truck (if we snuck out the basement side doors that is)

When you're sneaking out but then you see Ms. Bonner.

6. Speaking of the basement, we all knew not to sneak around the stairwells unless we wanted to see this:

7. And you didn't hang out on the south lawn unless you wanted to do this:

8. Part of going to Central also involved having a low-key obsession with your class number (271!), partially because you had to shout it like, every time you were in the auditorium. School spirit wasn't optional, so you learned to embrace it.

The expectation of how you should react to your class number:

9. And honestly, you embrace it even more once you graduate and see how awesome your fellow alums are doing. Like yea half of the exec board for Drexel's National Association of Black Engineers are 271 grads? Not surprised, because we're ballers.

Obviously, we're killing it, we went to Central — duh.

10. Which is why any time you randomly run into a Central alumni out and about, you instantly bond over Central, it's greatness, and what teachers you mutually know.

You thought Dr. Pavel was the man too?

11. And of course, if you're both grads you look back on those glorious days of old like