This past May, I graduated from Solon High School.

Located in a suburb east of Cleveland, Ohio, this school is part of the district ranked by academic review site Niche as the No. 1 district in the country for 2018.

The ranking was based on academics, diversity, student-faculty ratio, graduation rates and standardized test scores. When the news was released, it was heavily publicized by local news sources and school board members alike. The story was even featured on Business Insider.

Considering the high-profile colleges that many of my classmates are attending, it’s fairly easy to see the legitimacy of this achievement. Not to dock on non-Ivy League schools (considering I myself am attending a so-called “less prestigious” institution), but it’s honestly impressive that there were three students committed to Yale in my 12th grade English class alone.

However, the fact that I tended to have at least one Ivy-Leaguer in each of my classes senior year attests to the immensely high standards that Solon places on its students. A typical course load included at least three AP classes, and not taking various ACT and SAT prep courses junior year was outside the norm. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with emphasizing academic achievement and attending a good college. There is something wrong with causing students to have mental breakdowns because of the pressure placed on academics.

Talk of grades and test scores rivaled typical social chatter, and schoolwork tended to feel all-consuming.

This is why, if my time in Solon taught me anything, it’s that grades aren’t everything. Call me a nerd, but I do genuinely enjoy learning. I don’t enjoy having my education dominated by cramming for tests and quizzes because the quantitative evidence of my learning is more important than the knowledge itself.

In fact, some of the most important aspects of my education at Solon came from outside the traditional classroom.

The school focused on diversity and acceptance, a progressiveness that many areas of Ohio lack. The various extracurriculars helped me to discover my passions and career aspirations, and the school’s art and music programs are award-winning. Learning how to balance these activities with the workload is a skill I couldn’t have honed as well anywhere else, and it’s hopefully prepared me to succeed at college as well.

So yes, kudos to Solon for helping me and countless others get into college with endless study techniques and self-taught coping mechanisms for dealing with sleep-deprived grade-related stress. I can’t say that I’ll miss your tacky motivational poster-filled hallways and bland cafeteria food, but I won’t forget the lessons you’ve taught me.

You are probably the best school district in the nation-- just not for the reasons you think.