School Competition

Feb. 5, 2008
Stull

Growing up is a difficult process. Imagine that best friend you had when you were

in elementary school being pulled away from you to go to a different middle, or high

school.

This happens a lot in the Westerville School District. Within the Westerville

School District there are 16 elementary schools, four middle schools and three high

schools.

According to the Westerville City Schools Web site, there are approximately

14,250 students and it is the 10th-largest district in Ohio. This makes it difficult to divide

up the district.

For example, consider Britany Byers, a freshman at Otterbein College. Byers

graduated from Westerville South High School in 2007. She attended three different

elementary schools, and went to Heritage Middle School.

“After leaving Heritage (middle school) half of my friends went to North (high

school) and the other half went to South (high school) with me,” Byers said. This can

cause a lot of controversy, especially athletically.

Byers was a member of the Westerville South softball team. “I had a friend who I

was friends with since kindergarten and we played middle school softball together and

when I was varsity athlete I had to compete against her.”

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing team can cause a lot of

problems.

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According to Michelle Blackley, the Assistant Principal at Westerville Central,

“We are very competitive with the other high schools in more than just athletics.” The

competition spreads to areas like academics and technology.

The first year that the Ohio Graduation Test was taken the students at Westerville

South far exceeded those of any of the other two high schools. Byers said, “We had a

pep-rally for how well we did on the OGT, we kind of rubbed it in North (high school)

and Central’s (high school) faces.”

All three high schools are ranked “excellent” on the State of Ohio Report Card for

the 2006-2007 school year.

According to Byers, this is not a typical rivalry. The sense of competition is

present between the Westerville schools, but there is still a strong sense of community.

“Say if one of North (high school) or Central’s (high school) football team would make it

to the state playoffs most of our student body would be there to support them,” said

Byers.

But is being pulled away from friends at a young age can be a bad thing? Byers

had a different outlook, “Having my close friends go to other schools forced me to make

new friends so when it came to graduating I got to know twice the number of people I

would have gotten to know anywhere else.”

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Sources:

1) Britany Byers: Freshman at Otterbein College

2) http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us/

3) 150 Years History Book (pdf)

4) Michelle Blackley: Assistant Principal at Westerville Central

5) Rachel Horn: Freshman at Otterbein College (she went to a neighboring high

school and I wanted her outlook on the Westerville rivalry)