I am one of the few people who will admit that I actually enjoyed my high school. The one downside of my high school, though, was that everyone in surrounding schools hated us. Carmel High School has the reputation of students being “stuck up snobby rich kids.” OK, of course you’re going to find people who fit this stereotype in a school with 5,000 kids, but not all of us are like that or even close to it. From Dr. Newton telling us to “beware of the hall sweeps” to basically going through airport security to get into the library during SRT, these are the things us “Carmelites” can relate to:
Class size
Roughly, there are 5,000 students in the whole school. My graduating class was about 1,100. Students have to share lockers because there aren’t enough to accommodate every person. And when we mention how large the student body is to our new friends, their eyes basically bulge out of their heads with the reaction, “How many?”
School size
Carmel is huge. We are given 10 minute passing periods to get from one class to another. If you’re traveling from one end of the school to the other, every minute is vital to making it on time. One good thing is I can easily navigate through large crowds of people.
Athletics
“Carmel always wins.” All right, we are good at sports. Any school with 5,000 kids is good at sports. There’s so much talent within the student body and you’re bound to find a solid team of good players.
Performing Arts
Same with sports, we have a great performing arts department. I was in choir all four years of high school and it’s true that it’s a go big or go home world. Our holiday concert was a pretty big production with many rehearsals and five shows total.
Trail
Ah yes, the trail of tears. The half mile travel to make it to school for those of us who drove to school is something that I do not miss at all. I know some of you are thinking, “Why didn’t you just take the bus?” Well, not everyone can take the bus because there weren’t enough to transport students. Basically, the school needs people to drive.
Lunch
Four lunch times, three cafeterias. It’s a jungle in the cafeterias. You had to get to lunch as fast as possible to get a table to fit you and your friends and then decide if you would rather get in a long line for a certain food item, or find the shortest line and deal with what’s there.
Where are you from?
“Northern Indianapolis!” I do not tell people I am from Carmel at first. I am too close to home for that and the judgment is real. But, I then have to hope they don’t know the area well enough to ask what high school I went to. It’s game over after that.
Convocations
For convocations, a full hour and thirty minutes was reserved for the meeting. Majority of this time is used to transfer all students in to the gym and dismiss them back to class. The actual convo lasted about... 20 minutes?
Principal
Three words: King John Williams. This man deserves the title of the best principal ever. I miss seeing him in the common area with a tray full of left over desserts to give to the lucky students who pass by at the right time.
Yearbook
The yearbook is basically a Webster’s Dictionary. There are too many clubs, athletics, extra curricular activities, etc. to cover for the school. Every one has to be included. Not to mention the entertaining articles that are thrown in to make the book more interesting.
Graduation
I sat next to someone I never knew. I heard names of people I never met and will probably never meet -- yet we walked the same halls for four years. Not to mention, it took about an hour and a half to read every students name.
Meeting People from your High School at College
Following the meeting people you never knew in high school, I still meet people who went to school with me while I’m at college. I will admit it’s a quick way to make a friend.
