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Growing up in a European country and never witnessing what it's like to go to an American school, watching American high school comedies, to me, has always been a pretty surreal experience. I'm sure that most of you fellow non-Americans reading this article could relate to me on this.

There are so many things about American schools that have always seemed utterly fascinating to me. For instance, you get letter grades instead of number ones, schools have swimming pools inside them, there's a club for almost anything, you have to get a hall pass to go to the bathroom during class, and lunch meals are usually pretty bizarre. The list goes on. With that being said, Bored Panda invites you to look through this list of tweets from non-American Twitter users in which they share things that they find the strangest about American schools. Feel free to explain to us the things we don't understand or add your own in the comment section!

#1

American-Schools-Weird-Things-Non-Americans

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GC
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don’t ever know what A levels etc. are. One of these days I need to look it up.

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#3

American-Schools-Weird-Things-Non-Americans

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Caitlin Davenport
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, but the cheerleaders were just normal students, not stuck up and they didn't wear their uniforms in class.

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#4

American-Schools-Weird-Things-Non-Americans

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Jamziee
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, because if you're in the hall without one, then you MUST be commiting murder (Sarcasm lads)

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#5

American-Schools-Weird-Things-Non-Americans

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Charlotte A.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Sweden it starts in august and ends in june. Nothing odd about it, to me.

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#8

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Caitlin Davenport
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They used to have E as a failing grade, but people thought it meant Excellent, so they changed it to an F.

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#10

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Juniper
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait, don't all schools have cafeterias? Where do you eat your lunch?

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#12

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Aunt Messy
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Canadian here. They don't close schools in Canada unless it's been colder than -40C for three days in a row.

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#18

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Eva Bryson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, teachers want you in class to learn, not loitering in the bathroom.

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#21

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The Zooble
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be very honest, I'm English and I usually do page count rather than word count

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Caitlin Davenport
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So we aren't "distracted". Even rooms with windows usually had the blinds closed.

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#26

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Caitlin Davenport
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not really. We have nearby schools we compete against in sports, but any rivalry is very light-hearted.

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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not when I was in school. Rivalry was real and strong. When my parents were in school it was worse. My Dad went to an extremely large school in Southern California. He was a stereotypical “greaser” with the cigarettes in the sleeves and his hair slicked back. A real trouble maker. On game night he and his buddies went to the rival school and poured a C ( for Chaffey High) in gasoline on their lawn and lit it on fire. Yeah. Not too smart. Luckily nothing happened.

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David Paul
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had a rivalry with two schools -- but no one ever got crazy like they show in the movies. Amother stereotype pf America.

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Dana
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My school is combined because there are so many kids and they wanted more opportunities for sports and stuff like that, and we play against each other for homecoming

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Girl_In_Red
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My school have a rivalry school but the students started the rival not the teachers.

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The Harry Potter person
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes. I have 2 high schools in my town. It's basically democrats vs republicans here.

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Jamziee
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah they do, and there was an arranged Schofield vs Silvestri thing in my town after school. The teachers showed up and stopped it

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Lauretta Payne
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is an outgrowth of sports competitions, and of social/economic disparity between school districts. In America, there are federal, state,, and local school district regulations - all of which may be different. So, schools in the city of Chicago may run very differently than schools in, for example, Adair, Iowa.

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Bill Skinner
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends on the area, my HS was very 'prideful' and though it was usually a superficial in its rivalry, there were times when Teenagers would get into fights if they were at a party, or a show, and a rival group from another HS was present. I believe each town has its own personality, and this applies the school as well. I've been to High Schools that were 'Chill', and I've been to others (like the one I remembered above) that are xenophobic, and cocky. PS: Again, my age, I graduated in '88. It was also a different time.

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Nightshade1972
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I went to HS in a district with (at the time) three major high schools. The schools had a rivalry with each other, as well as rivalries with competing HSes from other districts.

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Fern Hein
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1 year ago

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Fern Hein
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a rivalry school and we need police men at our games and a fence so we can’t go over to the other teams side

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Julia King
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

LOL my school made a mini movie about our rivalry with another school

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Philly Bob Squires
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mastbaum had some serious rivals in Frankford High. We were worse than Eagles fans during a Dallas game at some places.

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Susan Egan
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Our schools have very diverse teams and there were some communities that we played against that were pretty racist. There was a real rivalry there.

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Susan Thomas
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not like you see. Just bragging rights for who wins the football games.

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Patti Renwick Parrish
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OH MY GOSH YES! There were 4 public high schools in my city and the rivalry was very real

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elfin
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some schools have sports rivalries with nearby schools, but it isn't a gang war type of thing.

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Kimberly Herbert
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends - My HS had to rivalries that got very heated and resulted in vandalism. One school's senior class had its prom money taken by the district to pay for damage at my school. This is money the class had raised for 4 years to pay for prom and reduce the cost of tickets. The class officers were caught vandalizing our school so the whole class was punished. It was the adults' fault. Both the rival schools were being closed due to the low population. The lines were being redrawn and kids from those schools would go to my HS. The thing ist they could have kept those schools open but dropped them from Super 5A to 5A or 4A schools. That would have offended the great god football. (Super 5A, 5A, 4A down to 1A are sizes of schools. schools the same size compete against each other in sports. )

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Charlotte Shortt
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

YES THEY DO I AM IN MIDDLE SCHOOL AND THE. HIGH SCHOOLS HAVE BIGGGGGG RIVALRYS

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あんぱんまん
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

oh we have rivalry with other schools from the next city when it comes to swimming competitions... even football and netball isnt an exception...

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Emily Smith
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some rivals can be pretty intense, but it usually is all in good fun.

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Logan Jones
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Better dead than black and red"...the rival school's colors.

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beautiful plumage
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

all depends on how seriously your school takes certain sports. the two largest and most hotly contested sports in the usa are typically: football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and/or hockey. if you have a legacy of being good at any of those, you're likely to seriously care about your team's performance. you then often have a school rival in that sport.

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KT
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Canadian here, and yes my high school had a rival school they were pulling stunts on us and us on them

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Seth Linn
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Usually yes, sports matter more than academics and rivalries sell tickets.

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JessG
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh please, EVERY school everywhere competes in competitions with surrounding schools. Whether it’s in academics or sports. It may not be a hard core rivalry, but sometimes it is.

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Blueberry Woofle
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

me and my older brother absolutely despise our 'rival' school for literally no reason

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Dippin Dot
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Rivalries are a definitely thing - high school, college, professional sports.

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Jean H.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes...yes we do. It helps keep everyone competitive and wanting to do their best to 'beat' the rival school in sports, leagues, ect.

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Eric Lafleur
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know we had. It was about sports and ratings; there even was a high school where the rejects and expulsed students ended up to. And there was THAT school in a rich neighbourhood that every kids hated...

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Whawhawhatsis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The really nasty rivalries are saved for college. My dad went to University of Texas, which has a rivalry with Texas A&M that has been going on since before he was born. He would tell me stories of the things they'd do to Aggies, as the A&M students are called (the A stands for "Agricultural), who they'd catch on the U of Texas campus. Nothing truly evil, just crazy college pranks, but they really put their hearts into them. The school I went to didn't have any long-term rivalry like that.

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Cassy Michael
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends on the school, my high school in Arizona's rival was also our sister school (we kinda had a fine arts school and an academia school, I went to fine arts) so the rivalry was super friendly and we had a cute painted river rock we traded to whoever won the big football game. My Pennsylvania school burned the rival school's mascot (and sometimes best player) in effigy at the big bonfire before the big game, and we had to set guards to keep someone from setting off the fire before bonfire night. It was crazy. I liked the rock better.

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JustAWeirdoGirlChild
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

my school has the battle of 287, ennis vs waxahachie, and they are our rivals even though they suck

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Gwenda Christenson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

at the College/University level mostly. rival schools/towns do happen, but as stated, it is pretty light hearted.

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Hello Dolly
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depend on the part of the USA. Some schools do but it usually in smaller rural areas.

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Roadkill The Brave
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh if you think our Pro or College sports are competitive 😂😂 They start that off young. In the town I spent most of my childhood in there were 3 public high schools and 1 private high school. Every year they have a massive football thing where all 4 schools play each other before the season officially starts and whoever wins gets bragging rights. Yes they still face each other during season but seriously the 4 school game is insane.

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Betsy Knox
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For me, growing up in So. California in the 70s and 80s, we would call the schools we played against in sports our rivals but it was friendly. I played AYSO soccer and many of my team mates there were "rivals" from other schools when we played for our school teams.

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Emily Ducat
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That was a thing about growing up on the north coast of NSW Australia was their are so many tiny little schools with deep bitter primary school rivalries but then all the kids have to go to combined high schools which make for a frictious start to high school. Fortunately things settle down pretty quickly and it was nice to be able to rely on the older kids from the same primary school to kinda look out for you.

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Queen fhk
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nope I think it's a universal thing! It's normal to have school rivalry

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Csilla Kaszas
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

not just in America. I'm guessing you live in either a city, or a small town, so there were either way too many, or too few schools to develop a rivalry with. (in my country though, we don't have mascot animals, and even if we did, we wouldn't have gone stealing it from another school as a prank... well... some of us might have had.)

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Ana Vaquer Perez
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends, most schools kinda do. Like we compete against other schools but we dont really have rivals. Except in college/university you do have rival schools

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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At my high school we had a cross-town rival school and it was... intense. I didn't normally go to games but I stayed for a highly talked-about boy's basketball game and one of the COACHES threw a chair! I'm dead serious! No more games for me!

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Becca Gizmo the Squirrel
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes. Just like college football teams. Alabama crimson tide vs. Auburn tigers. And more. The coaches of the college teams get paid millions.

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Hailey Scullen-Miller
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

its not really normal for that but these 2 towns that ive been/are in (been in 1, is still in 1) they hate each other lol

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LJ Robinson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, we have rival schools. It is usually the closest school to yours, and it's a very active thing. It used to be fun, but has gotten dangerous.

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#32

American-Schools-Weird-Things-Non-Americans

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Caitlin Davenport
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Candy was usually a very tiny part, if it was there at all. But it was the most exciting part!

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