www.roanoke.com

(Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series from Edge staffers who have swapped schools for a day to see what life is like in a different setting. In this entry, Amy Friedman, a student at Patrick Henry High School, visits Roanoke Catholic School and shares her thoughts about the experience.)

At my school, I guarantee you there are hundreds of kids who don’t know who I am. But at Roanoke Catholic — I’m news.

When I enter homeroom (An intriguing time before school actually spent studying. I swear I even heard the word “hypotenuse.”) I am informed by one of my temporary classmates that people in the next room are already talking about me. It’s not even 8 a.m. yet. This is new. I don’t think I like it. I’m wearing red in a sea of navy and green. (Note to self: Don’t put on red flannel before weighing the pros and cons.)

I count the kids in the homeroom — about 20. “So, how many kids are in your junior class?” I ask the student who is serving as my host and his friend.

About 47, maybe 48.

I’m shocked. “So this is, like, half of your graduating class?”

Mm-hmm, the rest are in the next room.

This is real, right?

Walking down the hallways feels surreal. Where are Cory and Topanga? Where are Louis and Ren Stevens? They should be here because surely this is a television show set. The hallways and classrooms seem miniscule compared with the ones I’m used to — a school that is trying to accommodate upward of 2,000. Even the lockers hang open, and students use the locker doors as coat hangers. The honor code here actually works.

Cowboy boots with all the seniors’ names distinguish the lockers that are designated for seniors. There are posters lining the walls advertising bagel day, a weekly fundraiser in which students sell bagels for breakfast. The student government is planning a field day and winter formal and discussing adding a bike rack. Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to “Pleasantville.”

To be honest, coming here I figured that despite all my nerves and bumbling, I would find everything basically the same. That teenagers everywhere just sort of fall into an angst-ridden stress that is unavoidable; that, essentially, we really are a lot alike.

Sometime about noon, I drop my nice reporter act and become the sarcastic chatty girl that I am by nature, and I try to delve into the world of these Roanoke Catholic students. I want scandal or sadness or anything, but my search proves to be pretty fruitless. It would seem that the 47 (maybe 48) students matriculating as juniors at Roanoke Catholic are completely different from the ones at my school. They’re so diligent in class and quiet! Some kids reflect ones that I go to school with, but it’s on a toned-down level. So much so that it’s hard to distinguish the bookworms from the slackers.

As the day goes on , I can’t help but wonder if maybe I would have been happier at a school like Roanoke Catholic. There are some obvious pitfalls, though. First, there’s the daily prayer and the occasional Mass, which, taking into account my Jewish faith, might prove to be awkward. Second, and perhaps more pressing, wearing a skirt every day would drive me absolutely bonkers.

School has sense of community

A teacher said that the students at Roanoke Catholic are not just focused on getting into college, but on life and preparing themselves for the lives they want to lead. But are they? Can they possibly leave that sheltered environment ready for the real world? In the real world people do curse and they do fight and steal, and authority figures don’t always have your best interests at heart, so you cannot just accept everything you’re told. Somewhere down the road, it’s a lesson that has to be learned.

I’m not saying that every kid at Roanoke Catholic is naive and accepting. Maybe there is still repression and rebellion, and it’s just harder to spot. But, for some reason, I can’t imagine it. I think that there is just that big a difference in the schools.

First, at Roanoke Catholic there is the constant presence of little children, which I’ve decided must account for some of the relative calm that presides over the school. You can’t exactly have a battle royale in the cafeteria when the kindergartners are eating their PB&Js at the next table.

Also, everyone has known one another their whole lives . Walking down the hallways, my tour guide was able to name every student that walked by. This, I’m sure, has created a very strong sense of community at the school.

However, it forces me to wonder if people ever hold grudges. Or does having to see one another every day make standing animosities too awkward? At my school, you can go an entire week without seeing one of your best friends — and sometimes it’s necessary.

There is also the added diversity of meeting new people every year. Walking into a class for the first time and knowing no one is not exactly looked forward to, but at least it means I have some practice meeting new people. What if college was the first time I had to start school without the same people I had known since I was 5? I would be terrified.

When you get right down to it, I don’t think anyone can say that one school is any better than the other, so you just have to try to get out of high school alive and the best person your school will allow you to become.