Patrick Henry High School

There’s no pool. The gym is tiny. The rabble is restless. But! Student participation in everything is so low that you will be able to get on whatever afterschool activities you want. I, as a fumbling gangly teen, was on the badminton team, volleyball, Quiz Bowl, speech, math team, drama club, and the literary magazine. It seemed like anyone who was involved in one afterschool activity was probably involved in three or more; it was the same group of magnet program (International Bacculaureate) kids in everything, over and over again.
I had a good time here. In another school, I might have been on at best Quiz Bowl or math team, and been bored out of my mind — or possibly pregnant and on drugs — for most of the school year. I certainly wouldn’t have made it on any sports teams in another school.