Watching a movie involving high schoolers can be a bit disconcerting because of how it completely veers from our own experience at North Penn. Here are some of the classic movie blunders that don’t match up with our high school.

Wearing sweatpants – despite what the movies want you to believe, high school students do not dress up super nice every single day. Wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts is not a sign that someone is going through something super difficult; it is a sign that they want to be comfortable and relaxed.

Having a full meal with your entire family, taking one piece of toast and leaving like eighty pancakes – First of all, the time North Penn students wake up makes it nearly impossible to have breakfast with the entire family. And it is not common for anyone to have time to make a huge breakfast with pancakes, fruit, toast, and the works, and for their kids to take one piece of toast and then take off. Most students grab whatever they can find or pick up Dunkin’ Donuts or Wawa on the way to school.

Specific and distinct cliques – our students are not placed in one category that can be described in a lame montage. There’s an overlap in groups all over this school, between sports and music and art and engineering. Just because someone is involved in a choir does not instantly classify them as a “choir kid.” We all understand that everyone can be involved in multiple activities, and don’t go into a panicked dance sequence because someone dares to play a sport and join the musical.

Having the ability to text the entire school some new gossip – In almost every teen movie, someone spreads an embarrassing moment or a huge secret with just one tap on their phone. That is not possible in any way in real life. Especially at North Penn, all 3000 students will not be getting the message. Also, most students aren’t that harsh in real life and almost no one would post something to embarrass someone all over social media.

Big hallways – there is not enough time to stop and have a five minute chat. You’d be pushed in one direction by the constant stream of students pushing forward and trying to desperately reach class on time. That iconic walk of three popular girls in slow motion down a pretty much empty hallway? Not real. Those stilettos wouldn’t make it one foot in our crowded hallways, and the hallways are so much more narrow than any movie would let you believe. It was crowded, it is fast paced, and it does not look cinematic when we rush to class.

Talking at your locker – Nobody has time or room to stop and have a very long conversation between classes. At North Penn, most students never open their lockers. This might have been more common before, but as we are evolving, the movies are not.