A Day in the Life of a College Prep Public Charter School Kid

Sparkler PeoniesAndFlan goes to an actual nerd school?!? Can we go, too? —SparkNotes editors

I’ll start out by saying this: I am not an average American teenager, and I do not go to an average high school. I carry a graphing calculator with me almost everywhere I go, I would be totally cool with posting something like, “Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?” or “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight” as my Facebook status, and I own a Pride and Prejudice mug. In short, I am most definitely a nerd, but I go to a college prep public charter school (wow, that’s a mouthful), where all of this is absolutely normal. So here is what one of my typical not-so-typical days is like:

6:28 a.m.: I wake up and turn off my alarm clock before it rings. On days when I sleep in the extra two minutes, the noise startles me so much that I fear the stress it causes is shortening my life.

7:20 a.m.: This is when I am supposed to leave for school, but I don’t usually make it out the door for another ten minutes.

7:50 a.m.: I arrive at school and find some friends to talk to before the bell rings. Our conversations usually consist of really mundane and/or random things like homework and Japanese candy (Pocky, anyone?).

8 a.m.: Study Hall. My school does not have homeroom, or a very good speaker system, so all the teachers read us the announcements during first period. I am lucky to have study hall first period because it means I have plenty of time every morning to finish homework and study for any tests I might have that day.

8:59 a.m.: Psychology. This is a great class. The teacher is super nice and willing to go off topic for any questions we have. We also get to watch strange psychology-related videos on YouTube, and our teacher has told us we'll get to watch 50 First Dates if we can sum up our unit on memory and memory loss.

9:55 a.m.: AP Lit. Lit. involves an insane amount of reading and almost as much writing.  The words “boot camp” are frequently used by the teacher, and are most often followed by groans from overworked students. Despite all this work, I, and the majority of these groaning students, really enjoy this class because, like I said before, I am a nerd and I go to a nerd school.

10 something a.m.: AP U.S. History. Also known as “APUSH,” this class would be most likely to put me to sleep, if it were possible for me to fall asleep in class (I’m not sure, but I think it’s the bright lights and the fact that I’m sitting up that keep me from sleeping). Lately, however, this class has become slightly entertaining because our teacher has taken to enthusiastically reading us lots of different articles and books. My favorite was the one that went on for a whole paragraph describing Lewis and Clark’s “rugged faces.”

11 Something a.m.: Lunch. When I don’t have any sort of meeting to go to, I eat lunch in the chemistry classroom. This usually involves a lot of strange antics, like roasting marshmallows on the Bunsen burners.

12 Something p.m.: Spanish III. I look forward to Spanish on Fridays because we get to watch a ridiculous telenovela that no one can resist enjoying, despite its stupidity.

1 Something p.m.: Pre-Calculus. The one really interesting thing about this class, I have to say, is the significantly large number of ties the teacher owns. They are all pretty awesome.

2 Something p.m.: Physics. On days we can get our physics teacher to go off on a tangent (which is most days because there are some kids in the class who have spent their entire high school careers perfecting the art of sending this particular teacher off on a tangent) this class is so. much. fun. There is no limit to the amount of amazing and hilarious things this teacher has done in his life. He tells us about everything from his life in Brazil when he was 10, to the crazy students he has taught, to his days as a swim coach.  People say he is sort of like Indiana Jones, only cooler. On days when we don’t get to hear any stories, I don’t like physics much.

3 p.m. onward: After school, the rest of the day is jam-packed with extracurriculars and homework. Since I'm a lazy nerd, I only participate in fencing and Mock Trial. Most of the people I know do a hundred and one things and still manage to stay alive. I don’t know how they do it.

So there you have it.  My school is full of nerdy overachievers, not one of us average or normal. Especially not me.

Would you go to a school full of nerdy overachievers if you could?

Related Post: A Day in the Life of a Charter School Kid

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