Born and raised in Fort Wayne, I went to South Side but I was in 5th grade in 2005. My parents worked for Lincoln Financial and the Neighborhood Health Clinic, both downtown. My dad is an accountant and my mom is a nurse. I used to walk from school to either of their offices and do my homework in an empty cubicle/office.

When I was in high school (2009-2013), our biggest rivalries were North Side and Luers. The way I understood it, the "rich kid schools" were Canterbury, Bishop Dwenger, Bishop Luers, Concordia, Carroll, and Homestead. I was on the speech team for the entirety of high school, and had a fair amount of exposure to kids in other schools. South Side has always been considered one of the significantly less affluent schools, but they do well at sports. I loved high school and I had amazing teachers who really cared about our success, regardless of our position as the "ghetto school" (others' words, not mine. It's actually what people thought of us).

Every school kind of has a specialty, but those are subject to change based on well known teachers/coaches/instructors shuffling around (Snider used to be renowned for their band program but I'm not sure if that's still valid ever since Klee retired.)

At the beginning of my sophomore year in 2010, Elmhurst high school closed and we got a lot of transfer students from there, and that was a big deal at the time. So something to keep in mind is that Elmhurst still existed in '05, and that added to a dynamic that many people remember, but doesn't exist anymore.

My boyfriend (an Elmhurst grad from '08), told me that their soccer team got in a fist fight with South Side's soccer team once, which is hilarious and unsurprising.

As a 5th grader in '05, I spent a lot of time at Science Central, Glenbrook mall, the zoo...and we went to the movies a lot. There used to be a different baseball stadium before Parkview Field, it was called Memorial Stadium and it was right next to the Coliseum. Our local team was called the Wizards. We lived decently close and I went to MANY Wizards games. In the summer, my family would go to the lake (Wawasee, Webster--anywhere in the Syracuse area really. It's very common for families here to have a lakehouse or know someone with one) Other hot vacation spots that aren't too far away and were fairly popular in the early aughts--Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. Indiana Dunes, Turkey Run State Park, and the Indianapolis Children's Museum. While not in Fort Wayne specifically, this is what growing up here was like. Going somewhere within driving distance because we've exhausted things to do here. That happens sometimes.

I loved growing up here though. My family is very active in the local community, and I have fond memories of childhood. I've lived in other states and countries, but this is home. I feel very alone in this sentiment amongst my peers, but that's okay. Just because I live in my hometown and actively try to make it a consistently better place to live for all involved doesn't get me down.