In my senior year of high school, the million-dollar question that no student in the class of 2016 could escape was, “What college are you going to?” This question is, in some ways, a right of passage for seniors across the nation, and at Charleston High School, there is a hierarchy of answers. Tier one: out-of-state schools and schools in big cities. Tier two: Illinois colleges and universities. And finally, tier three: EIU and Lake Land College. For whatever reason, despite the fact that we grow up rooting for the panthers and going to the homecoming parade and dancing at prom in the EIU Grand Ballroom, EIU stops being nostalgic when junior or senior year rolls around. I’ll admit, in the beginning of my senior year, I conformed completely to this hierarchy; I looked at and visited colleges farther away from Charleston because it felt like it was the right thing to do. People would say things to me like, “You could go anywhere. Why would you stay here?” as if being an accomplished high-schooler made me too good for Charleston.

Let's get something straight. If you go or went to Charleston High School, you're a very lucky kid. Here's why:

1. You went to a school with strong sports programs.

Yeah, the football team hasn't been in the final four in the last couple years, but that's by far not the only sport that matters. In the last two years alone, we have had fantastic cross country teams, state track finalists, a regional winning women's basketball team, and this year, the women's golf team won state, which was due to the fact that among the many talented ladies on the team, they had a three-time state champion. Also, let's not forget how many students received athletic scholarships in the last year alone.

2. Now, let's look at the music programs.

First of all, CHS has an acapella group competing on a national level despite the fact that the group only became competitive three years ago. Second, the choir program does collaborations with EIU, meaning they perform college-level repertoire. The band has had incredible drum majors and high ranks at marching competitions, including several awards for best drum majors. The band is just as strong during the concert season as well. Every single year, the band has qualified multiple students as all-state musicians, as has choir. In fact, in the last two years, CHS has sent over 30 vocalists and instrumentalists to all-state.

3. Speech.

I know like 80% of my fellow classmates thought speech was annoying and lame, 10% of them kind of tolerated it, 5% respected it, and the other 5% didn't even know there was a speech team. But the speech team has been holding their own against private schools and Chicago schools for the last couple decades. To date, the team has had 6 state champions in 10 events. And in 2015, it got 8th in the state out of over 100 schools, but nobody heard anything about it because...refer to above. But seriously, if you've never seen it, try checking out a showcase some time. I guarantee it won't be what you thought it was. And you might even be impressed.

4. The musical.

I am biased on all of this. Obviously. That's pretty clear by now. But I'm not making anything up when I say that my high school's musical theatre program was just as professional as what I have experienced in college so far. And it showed. Last year, Shrek: The Musical nearly sold out all four shows in an auditorium that seats over 400 people. The show was not only very successful but it allowed students to learn skills that are necessary to continue to do theater beyond high school. The sets were student-and-faculty-made, two of the dance numbers were choreographed by students, and the prop manager and stage managers were students. Everyone involved had a reason to be proud, regardless of whether they were a lead, an ensemble member, or part of the technical crew.

SEE ALSO: A Thank You Letter To Charleston High School

5. The academics.

You might not realize it until after you've graduated or until you get to be Facebook friends with your former teachers, but man do Charleston teachers care about their students and their jobs. Now, I'm not gonna say that every single teacher in the school system is really caring and great, but the majority are. They are compassionate and know their stuff. Like really know their stuff. And it shows. In high school, I graduated with all A's for all four years. I had over a 4.0 GPA. You want to know what rank I graduated in? 15th. 15th. (Moment of silence for the top-ten student lunch that I missed out on). And we only had 164 people in our graduating class, meaning roughly a tenth of the class got all A's. And nearly a third of the class graduated with honors. That's not a coincidence. So if you misspell a word, IT IS NOT BECAUSE YOU WENT TO CHARLESTON HIGH SCHOOL. IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE A BAD SPELLER.

Looking at Charleston as a whole, you have two options: you can say it's in the middle of nowhere or you can say it's in the middle of everywhere. Charleston is just two hours away from most major cities in and around Illinois (St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Springfield, just to name a few). Also, just so we're clear, Charleston is not a deserted village in the middle of a corn field with a population of 50 people. It's a college town with ten pizza places. There are plenty of things to do if you just go out and find them.

If you were a CHS student who chose to leave your hometown and go to college somewhere else, I completely understand that decision. I am in no way arguing that everyone should stay here. There are a lot of factors in deciding where to go to school, and EIU and Lake Land are not right for everybody. What I'm saying is that, if you left, the people you left behind were and are not beneath you. They just chose a different path that worked for them.