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Movies about American high schools usually portray a micro-society ruled by football players, the wildly popular kings of the hallways. The cheerleaders are blond, pretty-but-bubbly ditzes; the “all-American” look is usually Anglo-Saxon, with Asian, black and Hispanic students far outnumbered by white ones. The smart kids are portrayed as “nerds” and social outcasts.

I could never relate.

Because I’m a proud graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, where a racially diverse cast of New York’s brainiest were educated in an environment without a real football team (just a football “club” sporting homemade jerseys); the girls of the (mostly black) cheerleading team were likely to be enrolled in AP biology courses; and classmates cheered for Westinghouse prize winners instead of stuffing them in lockers.

Image Credit... The Bronx High School of Science

Growing up in New York City often feels like having membership in a unique club. When I first started as the deputy editor on the Metro desk in November 2018, working with the education reporter, Eliza Shapiro, we immediately talked about the schools we’d attended, since we both were raised in New York.