On the county's western border near the famed Pee Dee, there sits the smallest public high school in Horry County: Green Sea Floyds High School. It's a little 1-A school, but the hearts of its students, faculty and staff, and community are much, much bigger. Because of its small-town feel and countrified character, you can't help but let it claim a special place in your heart. And for those of us who attended GSFH – whether it be all the way from seventh grade to senior year, or even just a year or two, we know this to be true. Take a ride through its circular driveway, pull over to the side and park, and come with me as we take a little stroll down memory lane.
1. You know better than to say “Green Sea” when someone asks where you went to high school. It’s Green Sea Floyds.
2. But most people outside of Horry County have never heard of the school. Heck, even some people from bigger schools in the county like Myrtle Beach or Socastee still have no idea that your school exists.
3. You loved your school colors. They’re classy, easy to work into your everyday wardrobe, and of course they looked good on your sports uniforms. But it was the biggest struggle to find just the right shade of gold. You didn’t want the “yellow gold” that seemed to be the most popular shade. You wanted the “old gold” the regal shade of gold.
4. Because getting the yellow gold only made you think of your rival high school’s colors...blue and gold: The Loris Lions.
5. Loris is a great little town. You loved eating at Santino’s after games and you probably even dated someone from Loris High School, but when it came to sports, you meant business.
6. The Loris vs. GSF football games were some of the most exciting nights of your high school life because it was the time when you finally got to hangout with all of your Loris friends. Standing around in huddles, gossiping, and awkwardly flirting with each other was your favorite way to spend the game night. However, there was always the threat of someone getting in a fight either on or off the field because duh, rivalry.
7. If you played any sports, you had after-school practices. And of course you were always starving by 3 o’clock when school let out. Immediately after school, you and your friends would drive or walk over to Sugar Bears and get a Gatorade and piece of pizza – –if there was any left. When you left the store, you always smelled like fried chicken and cigarettes, there was no escaping it.
8. Because you went to school with the same people ever since kindergarten, you knew everyone in your grade, first name and last. Actually, you probably knew everyone in the entire school, first name and last. But this wasn’t that big of a feat because your grade level probably had only around 50-80 students in it, and the entire school had only around 400-500 total.
9. When there was a new student, everyone was excited about it. You wanted to be one of the first people to see them and you and your friends all tried to figure out which clique they would end up joining.
10. The middle school and high school were in the same building, so you never really had to fear the transition to high school. By the time you were in ninth grade, you knew your way all around the building perfectly and had already made friends with some of the upperclassmen.
11. Because you had been in the same building for years, you knew where all of the teachers’ classrooms were. Forget using the excuse for being late, “I couldn’t find the class.” You knew exactly where it was.
12. Your parents knew all of your teachers, and this could end up working for your advantage or disadvantage. If they were really good friends, you could probably test your luck with the teacher. But if they simply knew each other, you’d better not do anything bad or else your parents would know about it before you even got home.
13. You had relatives in your grade or the grades above/below you. And you had more than one teacher tell you, “I used to teach your sibling/cousin.” Immediately, they had either a good or bad impression of you.
14. Not a day went by that you didn’t see a student in the hallways wearing camouflage. Or maybe you didn’t see them at all because they were so suited up in their disguising clothing.
15. You went on field trips to J. Reuben Long and it was basically your school’s version of Scared Straight. You were excited and scared all at the same time, and if you were lucky enough, you even got stuck in one of the elevators. (Shout-out to the government and Econ. Class of 2013!)
16. When you had art class, you spent most of your time staring at the ceiling at all of the painted ceiling tiles. You and your friends picked your favorites, tried to find ones your friends or relatives painted, and joked about the ones that were just flat-out ugly.
17. At lunch, everyone had their set tables. There were tables for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and it was implicitly understood that you moved closer to the front near the vending machines each year.
18. Everyone knows cafeteria food isn’t exactly gourmet, but on Fridays at GSFH, it was gourmet southern-style. Fried Chicken Friday was very much a thing and even though the cafeteria line was always longer on FFF, you still waited in it because it was your favorite meal of the week.
19. Anytime you belted out the final verse of the school’s alma mater, "AND the Trojan's roar may echo o'er the countryside", your arm thrust into the air without hesitation as you pointed your index finger to the sky.
