It's Back To School season and this time of year always has me reminiscing about my school years. When the most important tasks were choosing this year's backpack, notebooks, pens, binders, and all the other stationery delights that awaited. I think of this time almost as if it's the teenage equivalent of New Year's Eve. A time to start over, begin anew, and with all the unknown promise that a new year holds. For me, school was the last century. The 90s to be exact and my school experience wasn't the stereotypical one. I attended a private, all-girl, Catholic high school. We had to wear wool kilt skirts and button-downs with Peter Ran collars. But as teenagers, we still yearned to express ourselves by bending the dress code rules.
So, we rolled up our skirts that were supposed to reach our knees so we could show off more leg. Of course, the nuns would tell us to unroll them. We did for a moment only to roll them up again once we were out of their sights. Another way to liven up our uniforms was through tights, colorful and stylish, we sought ways to reveal our characters. After all, the white knee-highs were standard uniform. I think back to those times and see how little rebellious details revealed our character—the girl who rebelled (me) and the girl who followed the rules, the classic styled girl and every character that could be found in the world. A time when teenage girls were exploring the world and discovering where we all fit in it. Even with all the teenage angst and uncertainty of the world, we stepped forward to find our place, to carve our path.
And we did with uniforms that got us detention or at the very least, a reprimand but we learned to be bold, be ourselves.
So, what was high school like for you? Do you have memories that fill you with nostalgia?
