Yes, Roseville High School. Oh, the glory days. It seems like just yesterday I graduated with my senior class. There are so many things about Roseville that only fellow Rosevillians would get and understand.
1. Walking into school as a freshman your first day of school was very scary.
I remember my first day like no other. I was wearing a floral dress with cowboy boots -- why? I couldn't tell you, but I thought it was super cute. Keep in mind that Roseville isn't a "country" school so why would that even be OK? Walking into school as a freshman was scary because of all of those senior girls. They. Were. Terrifying. They looked at you like you were a peasant. Not just this senior class but every senior class. They didn't care who you were or even if they knew you before. You were below them and not worthy of their time.
OK, now let's fast-forward to Homecoming. Oh, the dreadful day -- but the most glorious for some.
2. Homecoming was the worst and best day of your life as a high school student.
The pride was amazing. Everyone was enjoying Homecoming week, participating in daily spirits, such as lumberjack day, class color day, twin day, or toga Tuesday (but only if you were a senior). The week just seemed to get worse if you were an underclassman, so let me just start with that.
You are a freshman, so no matter what you do, prepare to be picked on. If your shirt says anything offensive towards upperclassman on Homecoming day, prepare to be squashed. So needless to say, stay out of the way of absolutely everyone.
If you are a sophomore, you have it a little bit easier. Going day by day during homecoming week, probably very excited for Friday to watch the pep fest with all of the football players doing a dance, and the teachers doing something silly as well. But still, stay out of the way of the seniors.
You are a junior, almost a senior, but not quite yet, and this is where your T-shirt on Homecoming Day says something about you being better than the senior class because now all of a sudden you have the balls to do this. Drama starts, the seniors get pissed, you get nervous, and have no idea what those dreadful stickers will say. Or at least when I was in high school we had disturbing stickers.
So now we have the seniors. Oh boy, the seniors. They stay up all night the day before the big day, where they have a bunch of girls stay at one girl's house, braiding everyone's hair, creating these stickers about the underclassman. Why? I couldn't tell you, but it was terrible, and there were some pretty mean things said on them. But my senior year they were taken away from us, even though we were going to try to do it regardless. We had this thing where all week the senior boys, and girls would go out and T.P. houses. Whether you liked them or not, it was just something that needed to happen. Fast-forward to the actual morning of: the girls would run around, blowing whistles loudly, until first period.
Besides all of the craziness, you know you went to Roseville if Homecoming was something you looked forward to, and for which you spent endless hours making T-shirts and memories with all of your friends. We all looked forward to the football game where we would all go crazy, and we can't forget the tailgating that brought all of us closer together.
3. Sadies was one of the highlights of your year.
Sadies is where the girl asks the guy to the dance. The girls would all discuss who they were bringing at least a month before the dance, claiming the boy they were going to ask. Usually, it worked out, and everyone wanted someone different, but sometimes that's not how it worked, and it was a war for who would ask him first. All the girls would ask in elaborate ways. I asked guys through scavenger hunts, candles, glow sticks, and a whole video. It was crazy the extent I went to to ask these guys, and I am sure you all can agree that you were the same way. Finding matching outfits was so much fun because everyone would have Nike sweatpants and their favorite college sports team T-shirt. Taking pictures with all of your friends and dancing the night away was just the best. It was the dance you looked forward to almost the most. But then there is prom.
4. Prom. I wonder how the guy I already know I am going to prom with is going to ask me?
Yes, you read that right. I'm not sure if this is how it worked at every school, but at Roseville, girls would claim once again whom they wanted to go to with, and then would ask the guy if they wanted to go to prom with them. After finding out if they wanted to go or not, they would wait for the guy to ask in a fancy way. The whole concept kind of ruins the fun of being asked, but oh well, it worked. Feeling pretty and showing off the beautiful dress you chose was fun but we all know we looked forward to the afterparty. Wherever it was, if it was on the party bus or at someone's house, the whole night was a night to look forward to.
5. Compton Corner, Laguna Beach, Hmong Mountain, Freshman Circle. Any of these ring a bell?
Such a terrible concept, but it's real. For some reason, each race would only hang out with each other, and there were names for every little hangout spot in the school according to it. I sure hope this isn't real anymore, but again, when I went to high school it was a thing. I am confident you can figure out what each one means, and if you do know, then you are probably relating.
6. Sports games were huge.
I swear we have the greatest sports fan section ever. Sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, and hockey, had so many fans all the time. We never missed games to cheer on our classmates at, and if we ever made it to sections and/or state it was a big deal. Roseville Raiders eat em' up, eat em' up! Or the endless "I believe" chants will never be forgotten. It was just so exciting to go to the Xcel Energy Center or the Target Center to see the boys and girls bring all they had. So much spirit!
7. You were ready for the junior takeover shirts.
The junior take over shirts were the shirts the juniors would wear the last day of school for the seniors. They would claim their new spot as the seniors in the school, and this would happen every year. Everyone was curious as to what the girls would come up with. Most of the time it was something reckless, but oh well, it happens.
8. Papers flew everywhere the last day of school.
I swear we would save all of our worksheets throughout the entire year for this day. We would throw them in the air when that final bell would ring, making a huge mess everywhere. Poor custodians...we knew this was their least favorite day of the year. But it was our celebration of finally being done, and not having to go to this school ever again (or at least for a few months). Some people we would see again, and some people never again, but this would only start the beginning of graduation parties, and all of the great food people would have to offer (mostly pulled-pork sandwiches and potato salad, but hey, it's free food right?).
I probably just made Roseville sound like a terrible school, but I promise it's not. It had its ups and its downs, but the memories will never leave our minds. It is supposed to be the best four years of your life, or at least until you finish college and realize that college was the best four years of your life. There were more ups than there were downs. There were great teachers and horrible teachers. There were fantastic friendships and stupid ones, but in the end, you'll never forget these things, because that was Roseville. There are so many other things that I could say about this school, but to be honest, these were at the top in my mind.
Hope this brought you all back.
"R-O-S-E-V-I-L-L-E Roseville Raiders to victory!"
