Attending a school with less than 500 students enrolled in both the elementary and high school is small. Our middle and high school students were housed in the same building.

Being in a small school had its advantages and disadvantages. While at the time I attended it seemed the cons outweighed the pros. Everyone knew everyone at school, and almost everyones parents knew who you were. Especially if you played any sports or were in band, then the number of people who knew who you were grew substantially.

Besides knowing everyone your opportunity to do different things was greater. In big schools you don't really have the chance to play more than one sport (unless you're a stud), and if you played sports you probably weren't in band. Small schools offer a chance for more students to get involved since there is such a small population of kids in the school.

Camo day was also a reoccurrence every year during Homecoming spirit week, and everyone participated. Opening day of rifle season was a holiday and if you didn't know what that was, you must've just moved from out of state.

Now at my time in college, no one knows who I am except a small handful of kids from my high school. No one is there to always ask how I’m doing, how my parents are doing, how my life is going. That is the biggest advantage to going to a small school.

While you are in high school everyone knowing who you are isn’t always such a good thing especially when you’re trying to get away with doing things that you’re not supposed to be doing (it was really easy to get caught when everyone knows who you are).

Now at college I realize how many people who have been in my corner supporting me for a very long time. From my friends parents, my teammates parents, and even all of the teachers who’ve known me since I was in elementary school. It’s hard to appreciate the amount of people who know you while you’re in high school, but being away at college gives you some perspective. You won’t run into someones mom who knows you at the store and you’re not going to be able to talk to your favorite teacher in the morning before school starts.

While you don’t lose this support system entirely, but it sure feels like it when you’re all alone in your dorm and so homesick. So many people have had your back for a very long time, you don’t get that sort of thing at a big school. The kind of support you receive at a small school is one of the greatest gifts. There are still parents checking up on you, asking your mom and dad when they see them at the store. Your teachers are checking up on you, they’ll ask your friends who are still in high school how you’re doing. No matter what you do in life or where you go all sorts of people will always be supporting you and your decisions. Be proud to have gone to a small school. Be proud to have gone to a school in a corn field.