For four years, I woke up to a kilt and polo on my floor that I picked up and put on without even opening my eyes. For four years, school events did not require looking nice. For four years, I walked around the halls with the girls who shaped me into the person I am today, and in four years, I grew up and found myself.
In elementary school, we started off as caterpillars, slowly inching our way around and trying to figure out how we are supposed to grow up. During the transition to high school, we began to figure out how to mature. Soon we prepared for the next stage of our lives. We wrapped ourselves in cocoons that kept us safe and warm when we were too afraid to venture outside of our comfort zones.
For some people, it could take months to grow out of that cocoon, and for others, it may have taken years. All I know is that the single-gender education I received helped me not only grow out of that cocoon, but it helped me spread my wings and open my eyes unto the world as a proud, confident woman ready to take on anything life decides to throw at her.
When I was a freshman in 2012, I entered the doors as an apprehensive student who was not sure about her high school decision. Being the only student from my elementary school that attended my high school, the largest all-girls private high school in the United States, I was very uncomfortable in my new environment. I soon grew very skeptical of myself for this decision only because I was in this cocoon that was too warm for me to venture out of.
One day that year, a girl in my biology class came up to me and introduced herself. Little did I know that this girl would not only begin to break down my walls, but also would change my life forever. Over the course of our four years we would become best friends. We pulled each other out of our safe havens and shaped each other into the people we are today.
A single-gender private high school like the one I went to is a place where there are limited stereotypes and a place where anyone can find her voice. It helps foster success not only in high school, but also in the future.
This is not to say that coeducational high schools do not prepare their students to succeed at a university, because they do. But there is something different about the education received at single-gender institutions. It not only stems from not having to worry about how you look in front of members of the opposite sex, but so much more.
At single-gender institutions, you learn to be your own person and do not have to worry about fitting the mold of who someone else wants you to be. Your education makes you content with who you are and allows you to open up and explore new places with a sense of comfort.
You are never afraid to raise your hand. You know that no one will laugh or make a comment about something you say, even if your answer is wrong or is part of the unpopular opinion. Eventually you learn that you learn from your mistakes and your teachers and peers are there to help you through them and make you a better student and an all-around better person.
I can say without a doubt in my mind that my single-gender education was the perfect choice for me. I would hear girls from coed schools in my neighborhood talking about the constant drama that would surround their lives in their schools. In my four years at my single-gender high school, I had only experienced one bout of drama that lasted a mere day. That comes out to approximately 719 days of high school that I experienced drama-free. This was not just me. Of course, when you fill a building with hormonal teenage girls, there is bound to be some sort of drama, but not as much as one would expect. Many girls would find the drama not worth their time because we were in that building for a specific purpose, to change, grow and develop into mature young ladies ready to face the world.
During senior year, each student had the option to attend a retreat called Kairos. On this three-day retreat, your eyes are opened not only to who you are yourself but who your peers are. I always knew I belonged at my high school, but it was not until Kairos that I knew exactly why. I was not only there to share my story, but I was there to help others through theirs. I was there to be a light in the darkness for anyone who needed it. I was there to be living proof to my peers that the sun will rise and everything will be alright. It was through Kairos that my senior class united as one. The administration, faculty and staff were not wrong when they constantly pointed out that we were a class like no other. We shared a strong bond that was completely unbreakable.
My single-gender education taught me that every person has their place. Not only women, but men as well. Whether that be in the theatre wing, out on the court or field, in the classroom or in the fan section, everyone belongs somewhere and everyone is a someone.
My single-gender education not only prepared me for all the obstacles I will face in my life, but it also helped me and will continue to help me call Columbia home.