A day in the city

The Iowa City schools have been in a lifetime rivalry between each other. Each of them thinks they’re better than the other, but deep down, we’re all equally good schools.

There’s West High, “Where excellence is tradition”, and City High, “The school that leads”. 

On Oct. 30, I decided to shadow a student currently attending City High School, Matisse Arnone ’23. 

When arriving at City High and entering the building, the atmosphere seemed different than West High’s. It felt more spacious and the lighting seemed different as well.

I could feel the school spirit around the school, mainly from the building. I took note that both City High’s logo and their slogan, “The school that leads” were engraved in the lockers.

The first class Matisse and I went to was English 9 with Ms. Corbin. The students were in book groups and were also starting a new unit.

The students worked well together, and they worked by themselves later in the class. When they did so, they were mostly quiet and focused on their work.

After English, French 2 with Mr. Balcaen was Matisse’s next class. I don’t take French as a World Language class, so I couldn’t understand what they were learning about.

Compared to my Spanish 2 class here at West, the teacher spoke more French in class than English. Although I’ve never spoken or read the language, I attempted their Kahoot in class and went from 20th place at the start to 19th place by the end.

Matisse and I then went to band with Mr. Kowbel and I got to listen to their freshman band. They played “Horkstow Grange” composed by Percy Grainger and “Metrodance” composed by Randall Standridge, and I thought both songs sounded good.

The biggest difference in their Freshman band and West High’s was that City’s band was much larger. This is likely because City High only has three concert bands as opposed to West High’s four, most likely smaller, bands.

Afterwards, AP US History, a class West High freshmen aren’t allowed to take, with Ms. Gibbens was next. They were currently talking about the Market Revolution and the students were given a note packet to work on.

The class was dismissed slightly earlier than the bell for B Lunch, which takes part in the middle of 4th period. City High has A, B, and C lunches, with A lunch being similar to West High’s A lunch and City High’s C lunch being similar to West High’s B lunch. 

Compared to where I usually sit during A Lunch at West High, the lunch area was a lot calmer. The floor was carpeted and the tables were long compared to the circular tables in West High’s cafeteria.

The class then returned back for the second half of the fourth period AP US History. During that time, the students were doing test corrections while I found that City High freshmen don’t have AP Human Geography as a class available to take.

Later, Matisse and I headed to biology with Ms. Barnard where the class talked about and reviewed photosynthesis. I observed that in the back of the room that there were plants and trees in plastic bottles.

For City High’s equivalent to West High’s Academic Focus Time, Little Hawk Advisory, the students stay in the last class instead of going to a designated teacher and room like it’s done at West High. During that time, I took a break to read a book I brought along.

I could see people both on their Chromebooks and on their phones. I’m not sure how many people overall used their time wisely and how many didn’t, but it probably depends on the student and the amount of work they have to do on a certain day.

Next, Matisse and I went to Earth and Space Science with Ms. Smith. City High and West High had been talking about drastically different units.

City High was currently talking about craters while West High was talking about inertia. Both schools will eventually talk about the other lesson later in the year.

The last class Matisse and I went to was Geometry Honors with Ms. Knoche where they were starting a new unit in class. Unlike my Geometry Honors class at West High, this class started with a warm-up on the board before taking notes and doing homework.

Overall, I found the experience really fun. I thought it was nice to see something new instead of the same thing every day, even if it was school.