I survived Catholic school. To some, the achievement may not sound impressive, but to my girls who wore kilts to their knees every day, they will understand.
I was one of the minorities at my school. I don’t mean due to my race or beliefs (since everyone’s was the same), but rather because I wasn’t forced to attend, instead I chose the Catholic high school for myself. I’m not sure what or even if I was thinking when I made this decision for myself in eighth grade, but I did. Honestly, I loved every second of it, mainly because I didn’t have anything else to compare it to.
It wasn’t until I attended college that I began to realize, and honestly laugh at, what I considered normal at the time…
- Gym class was based on gender
-
We girls looked forward to gym period since it meant an hour break from our uniforms; however, we often wore our gym shorts over our tights. It wasn’t the most stylish look, but we were always too lazy to put tights back on afterward. Honestly, the new fashion statement we created, gym shorts over tights, as never an issue as we didn’t break a sweat during gym period!
Our all-girls gym class focused on learning the basics of tennis, golf, and walking..you heard that correctly, walking!
- Our prom dress had to be approved
-
When you attend a Catholic high school, prom is honestly every girl’s dream. A time to truly express yourself..or so we thought. Finding a dress that fit the strict guidelines was frankly exhausting. Not only were we informed what to not wear, but teachers also stood at the entrance of our prom and turned away any student that did not follow the guidelines!
- You could get detention for your appearance
-
I don’t mean detention because your skirt was too short or the guys forgot their ties, for this happened quite often, but even your hair, jewelry, and tattoos could get you sent to the front office.
If the guy’s hair touched the back collar of their shirt they would have two options; get written up for it or get a free haircut from our president (which never looked good)! Luckily, girls’ hair could be any length, but the color had to natural, meaning no blues or pinks! For jewelry, we were only allowed one ear piercing and absolutely no tattoos in sight!
- Our senior prank had to be pre-approved
-
Honestly, is it even considered a prank if it had to get it approved? Our student council spent days proposing ideas to our principal in hopes of getting our last big senior memory accepted. We heard talk of our public school in town letting loose pigs in their hallway; we didn’t even dare to propose ideas that crazy…but still, nothing got passed besides having the freedom to tie-dye our white button-down shirts!
Looking back I don’t know how I survived the strict rules. Nevertheless, I am forever fortunate for the experiences I gained and the people I met along the way!