As someone who went to Catholic school from pre-K to twelfth grade, going to a non-religious college was like entering a foreign country. Here are the 20 tell-tale signs that you are hands-down a Catholic School Kid.
1. You knew the same 30-60 people for the majority of your childhood.
When a new kid transferred into class it was equivalent to the wonder and awe of Christmas morning. Finally, a new kid who doesn't know how weird I am and might want to be my friend!
2. You knew summer was over when your mom dragged you to Flynn and O'Hara's for a new uniform because you grew another inch and didn't fit into your old one.
It was probably more painful for the younger siblings who were going to receive "hand-me-downs" anyway and had to just sit there in boring agony.
3. Dress down day was equivalent to New York Fashion Week.
Once a month (but a week when you got to high school) you were blessed with a dress down day. This meant that you needed to donate a dollar and whip out your cutest Delilah's or Kohl's graphic T-shirt, blue jeans, and Uggs. It was also one of the few days you could paint your nails and not get in an obscene amount of trouble for it.
4. The best days were on Holy Days of Obligation.
When you had school on Ash Wednesday, All Saints Day, or May Crowning, you had to go to mass with the entire school. This meant you spent half the day in church and the other half eating lunch and reading a book because your teacher didn't feel like teaching for an hour.
5. Getting to play Mary or Joseph in the nativity skit was the biggest battle/honor of your Catholic School career.
Everyone wanted to play Mary or Joseph. Basically, if you weren't the teacher's pet or your mom didn't e-mail the teacher ahead of time begging her to let you be the star, you were stuck being a shepherd or an angel (or in my little sister's case, the sheep).
6. You knew you were the popular kid when you were asked to read at mass or bring the gifts up during communion.
7. You genuinely had no idea that religion class wasn't offered at public schools until you stopped going to Catholic school.
It honestly never clicked in my brain until I met my friends who went to public school that this was a thing.
8. From 7-8th grade, your friends had birthday parties that were like the school dances, but you didn't need to leave room for the Holy Spirit.
9. You only shaved your knee caps because your knee highs covered all of your legs anyway.
This became super convenient in high school.
10. When you got to high school and there were more relaxed rules about wearing makeup and nail polish.
Admit it, you felt like a total rebel/ beauty queen.
11. You probably went to some lake resort in Pennsylvania for your eighth-grade dance/field trip and thought it was cooler than prom.
12. Your school was either called St. [enter a saint's name], Our Lady of [enter adjective that has something to do with Mary], or Bishop [enter Bishops name you've never heard of until you actually went to the school].
13. When your teacher made you sit in boy-girl order at mass you would nearly pass out because it meant you could possibly be blessed to hold your crush's hand during the "Our Father."
14. The American flag and the cross would be hung up next to each other in each classroom because after morning announcements you would pray and then say the Pledge of Allegiance.
15. Catholic Schools Week was the sh*t.
For one whole week you would get to watch the most athletic kids in your class battle it out in scooter hockey, the smartest kids play Jeopardy against each other, and then eat pizza and ice cream on Friday to celebrate. But the most coveted event of all was watching the 7th vs. 8th-grade basketball game which was more important than the Super Bowl and the Olympics combined.
16. Drama got around really quickly.
I literally watched a rumor be whispered around the classroom like a game of telephone once. You can only trust your ultimate BFF with a secret. If you told anyone else, your news would be spread to your entire grade by recess.
17. Your most accomplished year was the second grade when you learned how to write in cursive, went to confession, and received your first holy communion.
18. You learned never to leave valuables in your desk over the weekend because the CCD kids will 100% take it.
19. You became overwhelmed when you got to college because it wasn't socially acceptable to wear the same outfit every day.
You can't imagine how stressful it was for me to pick a different outfit out every day.
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