Danville vs Urbana
From school to school, the set-
up, curriculum, and homework load changes. Coming from Danville High School, I was accustomed to being in one of the three houses into which they have split the school: ACE, for the artsy people, GLOBAL, for the environmentalists, and NEWTECH, for the technologically inclined.
ACE house administrator, Phil Cox, said “The Houses of Danville High School were designed to (a) create smaller learning environments where students can build relationships with teachers easier and where students feel like they are an important part of something and, (b) to meet individual students’ learning styles and interests. In that sense, I do believe that the Houses help students by meeting their learning styles and creating an environment in a large school that is more personable.”
Myself, a creative person and a lover of art, I was in the ACE house. We based all of our classes on one main topic, for example: The Taj Mahal or Frida Khalo. We then related all of our subjects to the main topic, for example: Finding out how the Taj Mahal relates to chemistry or geometry.
Therefore, all of our classes were somehow linked together and made everything coincide. Yet, coming from Danville High School (otherwise known as DHS), with its houses and linked classes and then arriving at Urbana High School was a new experience for me.
At UHS, we do not have houses, main topics or linked classes. I was surprised to see that every class was completely different and were not at all interconnected. At DHS, it seemed to me that we made deeper connections with the teachers and got more teacher-student time, not teacher-entire-class time.
UHS is definitely more challenging and prepares you better for college. The teachers at UHS are more about teaching what needs to be taught, and then getting connected to the students.
DHS also had an exceptional athletic program. The DHS football team had gone to the state playoffs for two years in a row, coincidentally the two years that I attended the school. The team had gone undefeated all through the season. The only loss of the season was the last game of the season.
Of course, football was not the only sport in which Danville excelled. The teams for both girls and boys soccer were also very talented. The soccer players had very good seasons and the players cooperated and worked very well with each other.
The sport that I personally participated in was cross-country. I joined the squad in my freshman year; the guys and girls on the team were like family to each other. While we ran, we encouraged each other and pushed ourselves to our limits.
Swimming at DHS was also a popular sport. Both boys and girls swimming were really dedicated to the sport, through all the morning practices and tough meets, the team stayed close as ever.
Aside from main sports like football and soccer, tennis was also an interesting sport. The tennis squads were devoted and enthusiastic throughout the entire season.
However, sports were not the only extracurricular activities that DHS offered. Many of my friends, and majority of the students, spent countless hours of singing and dancing to audition for show choir. Whether it would be Contemporaries, Delegation, or just Show Choir.
The participants worked all school year towards the spring competitions. Last year, the singers travelled to Washington D.C. and ultimately New York to perform before thousands of people. Big hair, big eyelashes, and big makeup makes show choir what it is.
On a different note, students of UHS are much more accepting to new students. DHS was quite cliquey and snotty to those who weren’t ‘in.’ At UHS, financial status doesn’t seem to have that much affect on your popularity.
For example, at DHS, you could walk into the lunchroom and easily pick out what groups were ‘hot’ and what groups were ‘not.’ UHS, having off-campus lunch, doesn’t have that kind of separation.
It also seemed that at DHS, everyone tried to be like one singular person or group of people, unlike UHS. Here, people are all individuals and have their own personal style.
Another factor at DHS that was outstanding and very helpful was the amount of ACT preparation they gave. During every math class, on every other Friday we took little mini-quizzes that consisted of 10 actual questions from previous ACT tests. We kept a log of our progress over the 10 tests and saw how we improved over the course of the semester.
We also had mini-quizzes in our science classes from time to time, helping with our preparation.
Aside from all the drama the new school year has brought me, I have adapted well to UHS in the past few weeks. I have accommodated myself with the teachers and students and got my priorities straight.
I no longer feel like the new student that’s helpless and has nowhere to go. Instead I work towards what I want and at UHS, that’s really the determining factor of your grades.
About The Author
I remember when I moved from Urbana to Rutherford, New Jersey.. It sucked. & I was horribly homesick, I eventually came home, but I found myself constantly comparing RHS to UHS. I can sympathize.
I completely agree with this. Moving to Urbana was hard and learning to respond to a completely different environment was even harder. So I can understand those students who have to go through this slow adaptation process.