People who go to West don’t know what it’s like being a student at South. And people at South don’t know what it’s like being a student at West. Well, being a West student for a year, and now being a student at South, I know what it’s like in both worlds.
In this article I’m going state what I know about both schools so you can see how they are different.
Theoretically, the Parkway high schools should all receive the same funding from the district. However, much of West is in the higher socioeconomic area of Town and Country. Because of this, more West students are from wealthier families than South. You can see that in the student parking lots at West. It’s not unheard of to see Mercedes and BMWs scattered among the other cars in the West student lot.
Besides wealth, there are other differences in the schools. In the bathrooms of West, there are student-made paintings on the walls and doors and in the student lots, there are parking space paintings too. At South, there are not as many student creations that are around the building.
Now, I’m not saying that West is necessarily “the best.” There are plenty of perks to being a South High Patriot. Since South is the newest Parkway high school, it benefits from more modern architecture that West doesn’t have. When I first entered South as a student, I was incredibly impressed by the lovely plants and outdoor scenery at the bottom of the front stairwell. This makes the building look very modern. The same can be said for all the glass by the staircases throughout the building at South.
Besides buildings and facilities, let’s compare the important stuff–the academics. Teachers at both schools are fairly the same in my experience. Parkway has the same curriculum for every core class, but teachers have their own spin on how they decide to do things in their classrooms.
For example, I really enjoyed last year at West how my history teacher, Mr. Bashirian, did an activity to reenact trench–warfare. We set up desks as barricades on both sides of the room, and balled up paper, and fired at each other across the room. I like it when teachers do activities to make an example for something in a fun way. It makes learning interesting, I feel teachers grab more student’s attention by doing things like that.
During my time here at South I don’t have a specific activity I can recall, however, I very much enjoy the way, my geometry teacher Mrs. Watkins teaches the class. I like how we take a lot of collective class notes together, and get a fair amount of homework. In class, we also get a lot of work time to complete whatever is needed. Her teaching style is definitely my favorite out of every other teacher I have had this year.
But let’s be honest, most people compare the two schools based on their sports teams. So let’s compare them! People like to compare history plus present-day success with any sports. For example, South has not won a football game against West since 2001. So you could say West football is better. Also for West boys basketball, the Longhorns have won the majority of the matchups for the past decade. However, for the baseball programs, South has been better than West in their matchups.
The most notable professional athlete to attend Parkway West High School is Blaine Gabbert, a former NFL quarterback who played for the Missouri Tigers and currently serves as a backup quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. Lucas May, a catcher in the Kansas City Royals organization attended Parkway West as well. For Parkway South the most notable professional athlete to attend is Atiyyah Ellison, a former NFL player who graduated from South in 1999. Mike McKenna, a former NHL hockey goalie, also attended South High. South High is actually the only school with alumni on a current professional sports team–Jacob Brentz, a 2012 graduate who is a left-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.
Although I recognized good qualities in both schools and mentioned flaws too, I am happy where I am now and glad to be a Patriot, but will also have a special place in my heart for everything I experienced at West and my respect to the school. And here now, I’m excited for my future as a student this year and going forward.
