Growing up in a Private School

  Yes, that is right I went to private school from infancy up until October of my Freshman year in high school. There are a lot of great things that I took away from going to these schools. For one I have made some lifelong friendships, not to mention the advantage I had when I made it to my English class at Hephzibah High. Private school is really not how outside people perceive it to be. I am not sure how some people may see Private School, but just from societies stand point some may say that it is full of stuck up kids who don’t know a thing about the real world. Where some of that statement may be true depending on how sheltered the kids are. One thing, at least from my experience, not one of us were STUCK UP!

  Caleb and Anniebel, two people that I met at Southgate Christian School. Caleb and I met in K-4, the class you go to that prepares you for Kindergarten, and Anniebel joined us the following year. For years we were a trio and inseparable. We would always be playing Scooby-Doo or Spiderman on the playground or after school. Bell and I would have sleepovers and have horror movie marathons, where as me and Caleb would continuously play opposite each other in all of our school plays. I remember one year the school put on a production for Christmas where Caleb and I played the roles of Mary and Joseph. To this day I can barely remember the performance because I was only 11 when we held the production in the schools Sanctuary. I can recollect that this play had the most speaking parts that I had ever had in any leading role I have earned henceforth. Unfortunately, Southgate closed its doors the end of our 4th grade year. So my mom and Caleb’s parents packed up their classrooms and we headed to First Academy Christian. Yes, my mother was a teacher at both of these schools. Ironically enough, my mom was actually Caleb, Anniebel, and my 4th grade teacher. The last year we were all together. Since Southgate closed up, Bell was pulled into a different school, but me and Caleb were able to stay together. Caleb's father was the principal of both private schools and his mother was the Kindergarten teacher (Yes we had her when we were in K-5). My mom went back to teaching her 3rd and 4th grade class and Caleb and I moved up to 5th. This may seem a little confusing, but in our schools the grades were combined. Therefore 1st and 2nd were together, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th, and so on. This was because we had a limited amount of space, teachers, and students. Not to worry, in a private school the classes are much smaller than at a public school. At one point, if I am remembering correctly, Caleb and I were the only 2 people in our seventh grade class. I was also the only girl in my fifth grade class.

  Just because Bell left us for another school and different friends, did not stop the two of us from always hanging out. We still had our annual sleepovers and horror movie marathons. We loved to go roller skating (I mean Bell was practically a professional because of her classes) and we would babysit her nephews. As we got older it became increasingly harder to hang out because we started to go into different directions. There were a few years of estrangement, but we always come back to each other. Now she is married with 2 beautiful baby girls, one of which I am a godmother to. She is also one of the special ladies in my bridal party just like I was in hers. As far as Caleb goes, well when first Academy ultimately closed we were separated. what made it even harder to see each other was the fact that he lives an hour away and has just recently moved to Tennessee for college. Through all of this, we still manage to sneak in a few get togethers here and there. This past October he did the engagement photos that are on my other page. (Firefighter Engagement photoshoot) He will also be doing my Bridal Portrait's. One of my favorite parts about growing up in a private school are the relationships that you make. Not only with your peers or other students, but with the teachers and faculty as well. Because the schools were so small we were all like family and sometimes it didn’t even feel like school. Everyone knew each other! A great example of how close it was would be the fact that Caleb’s father will be marrying me and Brandon.    

  When It comes to extra curricular activities… well we didn’t have much. The schools were so small, we barely had enough people to make up a basketball team. At least that is how the population was at First Academy. Southgate was a much bigger school and had been around a while longer, I mean my father graduated High School at Southgate. I was a cheerleader, so was Bell, while we were at Southgate and the uniforms, for sure differ from the ones you would see at a regular public game. We had to wear white long-sleeved turtleneck shirts with green vests that said SCS in gold lettering. Our bottoms consisted of knee length white and green skirts with shorts. If you think about it, it wasn’t all that bad, it kept us warm in the fall! I quit the team when we transferred to First Academy because it became boring to me. I remember the day I quit, the practice the girls had that afternoon was interrupted by a rat scurrying across the floor! Needless to say that was the last ever practice and there was no more cheerleading squad. Instead of sports the students participated in the musicals and plays we put on at least twice a year. These were my favorite parts. I was never really a sports girl, always loved the theater and performing. Private school gave me that chance to learn, participate, and grow into it. Hephzibah, the public high school I graduated from, did not really have a drama program and the one that they did have, sucked. Not only were our cheerleading uniforms different we also had to wear uniforms for the regular school day as well. First academy became more lenient and we could wear jeans and a school logo t-shirt. Through the years that we were there the dress code became less and less strict. I remember thinking, “WOW this is so cool!” No more uniforms. Thinking back on it, it’s like that wasn’t the norm for regular kids, but for me it was. At Southgate we had to wear slacks and a colored logo shirt, khakied or blue dresses with a colored shirt underneath, or a khaki or blue skirt. Being my dramatic self refused to wear pants because I hated the way it felt in my crotch area! If it is not form fitted, I could not stand it. Therefore I resorted to only wearing dresses or skirts throughout my childhood schooldays.

The last thing that I am going to refer too is the class load difference. The big one being first period was always Bible study! We always had our Bible amd had to learn Bible verses and would have tests over them. When I was younger we did Sworddrills! If you don’t know what that is, well it’s where you are competing with a person or persons to find a specific Bible verse first. Caleb would always win!! When we got older we were in Mr. Damrons class and to this day I remember his famous Bible quizzes we had every Thursday! Where we would be tested on our knowledge of what we learned in Chapel the day before. Yes, the whole school had Chapel every Wednesday! The teachers would rotate preaching to us, just like regular church. The older kids had to take notes, especially if you were in Mr. Damron's class!! I remember a specific question that would always be on the quiz, “What songs were sung at Chapel?” Never failed! Some classes that you would reguarly take at a public school you also took at a Private one, there are only slight differences. For example, I took Literature classes throughout High School!! My all time favorite class! In private school you took Grammar. This focussed on sentence formation, diagraming sentences, punctuation placement, and learning what each word meant in the sentence. To this day I am bad at grammar!! Always have been, but I love Literature! I love reading and writing, but I always hated coma-splices! I don’t do well with that lol. Another class that was added was Spelling. I know in public school you take this, but in private you take it until you graduate! At least at Southgate you did. Another class I did not particularly enjoy cause I can’t spell!! The good thing about having to take these classes though is the fact that I had a great advantage in my Lit class at Hephzibah. Needless to say I was the only one in my class that knew how to diagram a whole sentence. Everyone else was just learning what a direct object is. (This was 9th grade btw)

I guess there is a ton more experiences and details about growing up in a private school, but to avoid this post being atrociously long I decided to stick to my favorite and the main experiences. The best part about going to these schools was finding my Best Friends! Whom I will always love and never forget. This and of course having a knowledge of the Bible and having God always on my side. I know I am not living a very Christain lifestyle, but that does not make me anyless of a beleiver. I love knowing where I am going and it helps with my everyday struggles. I thank God everyday for the life that I have and I owe it all to Him!