Voted Best County to live in, with the best school system, Howard County, Maryland is home to many. Those that grow up here know the struggles of living here, and often complain about it, but at the same time, HoCo will always be home.

1. The Fair is the number one place to be the first week of August.
2. When attending the fair, you’ll see at least five people you know.
3. If you’re not attending, you’re either showing animals or working your schools fair stand.
4. You always had to get the size fry that match the year you were in school; freshman, sophomore, junior, senior.
5. Friday nights in high school were spent at football games.
6. Before you could drive the question was always whose parents are driving?
7. The football game after party usually included a bonfire.
8. Parking lots make great places to hang out.
9. Or should I say the only place to hang out.
10. Going to get ice cream multiple times a week just to hang out with friends.
11. Alex’s or Jimmie Cone make great summer hang outs.
12. Most of the teachers that worked at Glenelg were all somehow related.
13. You knew most of the kids that had the same textbook as you, sometimes it was your older sibling.
14. Getting stuck behind a tractor on your way to or from school was nothing out of the ordinary.
15. Drive your tractor to school day was an actual thing.
16. Your teachers knew your siblings even if they were significantly older than you.
17. Running into people outside of school happened regularly.
18. If there was a new student, everyone knew about it.
19. Unless you moved here, you probably graduated high school with kids from your preschool class.
20. People envy you when you tell them your graduation ceremony was held at Merriweather Post Pavilion and not in a gym.
21. The closest mall is 20-30 minutes away, and the only decent hangout as a kid.
22. No one understands when you call Royal Farms “RoFo”…not even your parents.
23. Whenever someone asks where you’re from you just say Howard County because no one knows your little town.
24. Even when you say you’re from HoCo people still don’t know where you’re talking about and just tell them it’s in between Baltimore and Washington, DC.
25. It’s weird to you when people call Homecoming, HoCo.
26. You lived close to at least one of the elementary, middle, or high schools you attended. Otherwise it took you anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes to get to school.
27. You had a lot of your friends on the same bus route as you.
28. Let’s be honest…until high school, riding the bus was the best part of your day.
29. Color day was the best day of the year.
30. The senior tailgate was the only day you willingly woke up early to go to school.
31. You realize that HoCo is and forever will be home, and you miss it a little when you have to go back to college.