My First Day in College

My first day of classes freshman year in college, it was a warm summer morning. I enjoyed the walk through campus on a sunny morning as I headed toward my chemistry class. As I arrived in my class, I sat down in a lecture hall five times the size of my high school classes, looked around - gasp - I saw a shoulder!

That's the story I ended up telling everyone whenever anyone asked me about how high school was different from college. My high school experience was a little bit different than everyone else's because I went to an all girls Catholic college preparatory high school. It was the best choice my parents could have made for me. There are so many wonderful things I took from my time there, and I would do everything the same way if I had to do high school over again.

My High School Experience

Regina is a high school in Warren, and my experience was worth every single day. With an average class size of 20 people, I was able to get to know the other girls I went to school with, and that was a significant part of my experience. Because there were fewer people, the teachers knew who we were and could pay attention to us as we progressed through school. They cared about us and would personalize help so we could learn in the best way possible and develop academically.

The Plaid

One of the trademarks of Regina is that we wear plaid skirts and saddle shoes. Everyone, and I mean literally everyone, can identify us by those skirts and shoes. People would stop us in public and ask if we went to Regina if we decided to go shopping after school. That's why it baffles me that so many people say,

"I could never wear a uniform. Didn't it drive you crazy?"

Well first off, I never had to think about what I was going to wear to school. I could spend more time sleeping so that I could do better on the test I had that day rather than how my hair and makeup looked. Barely anyone even wore makeup. Why would you if you knew you would be around a bunch of girls who didn't care if you had a pimple the size of a dime and who would still think you're an amazing person regardless of your appearance?

The Tradition

Traditions at our school were similar to those of other schools, but with a couple added bonuses. Regina has traditions like welcoming freshman with stickers on the first day of school, Freshman Induction, Sophomore Day (where the sophomore class picks its class colors, song, flower, and patron), and Powderpuff. The best example of how much these traditions bring us together is homecoming.

Regina's homecoming is a little bit different because we don't have a football team - at least not in the traditional sense. Since we are an all-girls school, part of the fun is when homecoming season rolls around and the seniors get ready to play some flag football. Powderpuff is incredibly intense. We have regular practices long before the game starts, we all pick our own nicknames, and we get ready to play hard and win. Our homecoming game is a flag football game against a different school, and the amount of support our team gets from the school and our families is amazing. It is and has been the most anticipated event of every person that walks into that school in saddle shoes and a plaid skirt, and it is probably the most significant time of bonding for any of us Saddlites. Win or lose, we leave that field with our heads high because we won much more than just a game - we won the hearts of so many other people.

The People

Socially, having a small class size helped me grow and develop my sense of self and confidence. I didn't have to be afraid of speaking my mind at any point in time, especially since I never had to worry about boys not liking me for something I said because there were no boys. I saw a lot of girls fully embrace themselves, learn to be assertive, and become women who owned their existence and refused to back down from a challenge. I can't tell you then number of times I heard,

"I can't imagine going to school without boys for four years!"

Well, I can. I did. And it was actually an amazing experience. I can tell you now that it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Honestly, as strange as it may sound, I greatly appreciated not having boys around. It's not like we spited boys and wanted to hide from them, but not having them around helped a lot because we didn't have to deal with as much dating drama.

And thanks to my time at Regina, that's what I became: a strong-willed, passionate, empathetic, and unapologetic woman. I learned to support other women in all that they do and all that they are, and I am incredibly grateful for all the growth that occurred at Regina that I didn't realize until I left, and all the connections that I made in my time there. There, I made some of my closest friends, who are very different people from me, that have helped me to understand people of different views and motivations and to get along with other people.

While I wouldn't say the high school years were the best years of my life, I will say that because I went to Regina, I had the best possible high school experience I could have. They gave me the tools to build myself a solid foundation for an amazing life, and I am so grateful for every experience I had there.