Every school has its struggles. However, the small Christian school is on a whole new level. These 13 examples are but a few that everyone who goes to a small Christian school understands:
1. No one's heard of it
You know the drill. Someone asks you where you go to school and most of the time they've never heard of it, let alone actually know where it is.
2. You know everyone on campus
At the beginning of the year, if you're an upperclassman, you know who all the freshmen and transfer students are because you don't recognize them. By the end of the year, those you don't personally know by name, you, at least, recognize their faces.
3. Dinner with the prof
At some of the bigger schools, like the one my brother went to, the prof may not even show up for class. Instead, they have their TA's run class. At my school, I have been to four of my professors' homes and gotten invites to two others. These invitations were extended to the entire class. Bonus points if it's a department hang out. At a small school, you get to know your professors fairly well.
4. You can walk across campus in ten minutes
It's a small campus and unless you walk insanely slowly, you can get anywhere you need to within that ten-minute window between classes.
5. No buses
Again, the campus is so small you can walk anywhere you need to in ten minutes. This means that you have to make that walk in zero-degree weather when there are ice and snow one the sidewalks.
6. Pranks
While there are pranks at other schools, the biggest prank at your school is putting soap in the fountain. It just doesn't feel like the year has started until someone does it.
p.s. That's me in the picture. I'm six feet tall.....
7. Very few food options
My school only has two places to get food. Most of the time, neither of these options sounds very good. If you want something different, you have to either make it yourself or go off campus. Good luck with that if you don't have a car.
8. Curfew
I've been blessed to go to a school where this is not an obstacle, but a friend of mine did face that his freshman year. At his school, freshmen have to be in their dorms by midnight.
9. English prof is also a karate instructor
Seriously, though. He's a black belt.
10. Chapel requirements
You know the struggle. That is 30+ hours of your life you will never get back.
11. Community Life Agreement
For some, it's not an issue. But others really do want to experience that first night of drunken debauchery just once for their 21st birthday. If you go to a small Christian school, you have to wait until you graduate. Or if you want to watch an R-rated movie, you have to go off campus. Things like that.
12. Seeing profs on campus
It's not even weird to say hi to your professors as you pass them on campus or strike up a conversation with them. They genuinely want to know how you're doing too.
13. Ring by Spring
Seriously, though, it's a real thing. Four of my friends have gotten engaged already this year, and I'm sitting there like, "I like potatoes..."