So, where'd you go to high school?

This is the question that will swirl around my head til the end of time. When someone is from St. Louis and they find out you are from St. Louis, the next question is.......

So, where'd you go to high school?

Most people around here has heard the question, I've been asked by non-St. Louisans as a joke. However I know they truly don't understand the significance of the question. So, I don't answer it. As big as St. Louis is, it's a metropolis of tightly knit neighborhoods. So, the answer to this particular question determines several things- 1. your social status, which breaks down into several other sub-catagories- 1. the neighborhood you grew up in and 2. the level of competetiveness of your high schools athletic teams. This frequently will branch into another couple of catagories 1. public school or 2. one of the many, many Jesuit schools in the area. Which Jesuit school (ex. DeSmet, Vianney, St. Francis Borgia, St. Louis University HS, etc.) will then more accurately determine the level of social/fiscal status of your family. For a Jesuit school the competitiveness of the athletic teams becomes even more important, depending on rivalries. For example if you went to Borgia, you were from the more "rural" (suburban) areas. Even where your parents went to school is an important factor to "the question", which can explain why you grew up in the neighborhood that you did. Ultimately, the question determines what part of the county you grew up in. St. Louis is divided up in to regions of (one) St. Louis County (ex. North, South, West County), which part of the county is the broadest but relates back to the first catagory.

For example at my last company I worked for I frequently travelled to St. Louis (and lots of other places) for business trips, the owner of one of the companies asked me "the question". Except she just said, Where'd you go to school? The person I was travelling with who had never heard the "question" was very confused when I started going into my high school history instead of college. Which one would expect while on a business trip, I mean what business owner would care about your high school education over your college one? One from St. Louis, that's who! So, it turns out that we had some common aquaintances and we still keep in touch.

Now I'm guessing that you're wondering...

My Mom grew up in North County (Ferguson- McClure HS Class of '61 it doesn't exist anymore), which at the time was a very nice part of St. Louis, now it's average - affordable. My Dad grew up in a farming community in St. Charles County (Wentzville- Class of '72). (even the year you graduated is important to determine when you lived there how nice or improved it is/was) As things go, originally we were from Webster Groves/Kirkwood area (South County). My Dad however craved the simpler life of the country and moved us out to... Warren County- Warrenton to be specific. We were the only ones to move out of that area, all the rest of my family is still in Webster. Warrenton is "way out there" but has always held the respect of superior athletic teams, so it's not embarassing to say what high school I went to, even if it is "way out on I-70". We are true competitors! For a tiny 3A school we dominated several sports, in football the biggest rivalry was St. Francis Borgia. They usually had the upper-hand because they were private they could recruit players. In track, we dominated everyone, and we were the only 3A school invited to 5A invitational track meets, the biggest was Oakville when i was there. Our biggest competition in districts and regionals for state was Normandy HS, if you're from St. Louis you know why. We still smoked 'em! In basketball, volleyball and soccer, that was more of the conference level competition as you would expect a 3A school to perform. That's a little bit of history of when I say- Warrenton HS Class of '95, you know what it really means. The history of my parents should tell you that we lived very, very comfortably, and didn't stay in Warrenton in our spare time... You'd never know my parent's craved the "simple life" by how much we were always is South County, we should have just stayed there!