1. You can't help but laugh when someone complains of having a graduating class of 400 people.

...Try having 900 plus kids. It's not an exaggeration when I say that this was most of us struggling to stay awake during the over two hour graduation ceremony.

2. You are a pro at walking through large crowds.

You're so good at it that you always find yourself having to look back to see where your friends are, because they never learned the way of maneuvering themselves in and out of the crowds in under four minutes like you did.

You:

Your Friends:

3. The word "coffeehouse" still has quite a different meaning to you.

The definition of a coffeehouse from dictonary.com is: "a cafe or other place where coffee is served, sometimes also offering informal entertainment."

The definition to a Parkland student is: "An event that takes place way too early on Wednesday mornings in a very busy entrance way, that offers extremely loud music, which is way too loud for the average morning ears. You can see most people venture in about a minute before homeroom starts, thinking they've missed the event, soon realize they were wrong. Sometimes they offer some good food, in which you never got to eat, because you are already late, and it was already gone. Afraid you've missed it? Don't worry, you can always catch the re-run of it in homeroom on PMN."

Yeah, so when you ask a Parkland student if they want to meet you at a Coffeehouse and they hesitate for a hot sec... Now you know why.

4. You just can't think of Trojan Condoms without a little double meaning giggle. You're still a pro at double-meanings.

One thing I've always loved about Parkland was that our mascot was a Trojan. Hello double meanings! Over the four years that you spend in Parkland, you inherit a skill that not many people have. That skill is turning anything into a double meaning–and being proud of it. Thanks to our TrojanPak, we get to see some of these double meanings in action at sporting events, and of course, on our clothing.

Our "D" is hard to beat?

14th pak of Trojans and still going strong?

Nothing feels better than a Trojan in your end zone? ... Never got approved, still upset about it.

These Trojans don't break under pressure?

... Just to name a few.

5. You still wear your middle school team shirt to bed.

No? Just me? ... I swear I'm not a hoarder.

(...Aviators FTW)

6. You felt kind of famous when the meme of Parkland looking like the Millennium Falcon was going all over the Internet.

My Facebook timeline was purely Parkland-Millennium Falcon for days.

7. Even after all these years, if you hear that someone is from Emmaus, you both slip right back into the high school rivalry mindset.

What can I say? Even if we are good friends, I'll still preach that Parkland is better than Emmaus. I have to stay true to my homeland.

8. "Oh! You went to Parkland? Do you know..."

We will ALL come across this sentence in our lives multiple times. My automatic response is usually, "Uhm, I don't know, It's a really big school, do you have a picture?" Even with the picture, more often than not, we don't know who you're talking about. We wish we did, but when I say it's a crowded school, it's a crowded school.

9. This scene in The Hunger Games movie reminds you of something...

Cue the mad dash we all had to do at the end of the day to avoid the dreadful Parkland parking lot traffic. You think you're early? Think again. One three-second hold up in the stairwell and you'll find yourself in the back of the line. Eventually you found a way to either beat the traffic, or just accept it and blast some tunes.

10. Parkland-parking-lot-traffic has made you develop an unheard-of patience while waiting in traffic.

Truth be told, unless you had early leave, or you literally sprinted out of the school, you weren't getting out of that parking lot for at least 20 minutes, and that's if you could actually back out once you got in your car. It was either go crazy, or find a way to be calm in the storm. After awhile, being calm became a natural reaction.

Unless you were still stuck in the line when the busses came out, that's just a whole different story...

Sometimes you even found yourself trying to beat the buses...

... Which never worked, so you put your car in park, and waited it out.

11. AMC, Applebee's, Dorney Park and oddly Wegman's hold some of your fondest memories.

Whether it was going from a Friday night football game to Applebees... or throwing yourself down that steep a** hill into oncoming traffic just to get to Burger King, seeing everyone you ever met in AMC on a Saturday night, mindlessly walking around Dorney Park with the season pass you had to have, or running amuck in Wegmans, you can't help but smile when you pass those places again.

12. PALS still holds a place in your heart.

"High school is tough without a PAL."

If Parkland is outstanding at one thing, it's PALS. Warms my heart daily.
#EndtheRword

13. If Parkland got another thing right, it was the food.

TWO FOR ONE HOT DOGS?! THREE COOKIES FOR A DOLLAR?! THE MORNING BAGELS?! SUSHI BAR (the reason I needed weekly Caf Trac replenishment)...?!

Lunch was the reason I got up every morning, whether I was eating it at 10:09am or 12:33pm.

I can hear it now..."Meat sauce or meatless sauce available."

14. The emotions that overcome you when you hear this again...

I know it's just a black video right now, but click on it, you won't regret it!

15. It wouldn't be Parkland without... The Trojan. Pak.

These were undoubtedly some of the best nights of your teenage years.

16. Let's face it, you love Parkland.

You may say you hate Parkland–I'll be the first to say that I'm guilty of it–but at the end of the day, this place was your home for four years, 13 if you went from start to finish. It saw you thrive, it saw you crash and burn, it saw you pick yourself back up again, and it helped you become who you are today. The people who walked the halls with you for all those years, and the memories you share with them will always hold a special place in your heart. Truth be told, I wouldn't have wanted to go to any other high school.

I will always be a Trojan.

Signed,
A Parkland 2K13 Grad.

Also, just a side note... anyone have any updates on how big Bailey's doing?

I think I could've use some pointers from him during this...