by Jordan Berardi

Every morning, I blindly dangle my arm off my bed and wait for my fingers to find my tartan plaid through the mess of clothes, papers and textbooks. Without giving it a second thought, I pull it on, zip it up and button it. I rip my white polo embroidered with “STA” out of my closet and listen to the hanger rock back and forth until it loses momentum, and my room regains silence.

Fast forward eight hours. Not once during my entire school day did the skirt on my waist or the sweater on my shoulders cross my mind. But as I leave the one mile radius around STA, I am suddenly aware of the stereotypical Catholic school uniform. Where 20 minutes before I blended in with 600 girls wearing the same thing, I now stick out in a sea of what seems like the entire earth’s population.

I’m not completely sure when or why it became stereotypical for a girl who attends a Catholic school to be a “slut.” I searched “Catholic school girl stereotype” on Google expecting to find discussions on how these stereotypes are false. Instead, a Yelp question and response was the first result. The question asked, “Is Catholic school designed for anything OTHER than to make you promiscuous?” The question stunned me with its condescending tone implying that Catholic schools are built on the core goal to produce “easy” people. But even worse was the response from someone whose icon was, hypocritically, a provocative image of a girl in a mirror. The response said, “Don’t worry about offending anyone – all the Catholics I know are too busy getting laid to read this.”

It’s a usual occurrence for me to run to Target, Costco, Chipotle or WalMart after school before getting home to change. I will get asked what school I go to and will proudly answer “St. Teresa’s Academy.” But the politeness stops there. Weeks ago I was at a store with a friend, also wearing an STA uniform, when we were approached with the question, or better described as a statement due to the rhetorical tone, “God forgives you for everything ya’ll do bad, don’t he? Eh? Or ya’ll pay for the forgiveness?” The words were followed with a snicker. Only a few minutes later we were confronted again by a different person, “Loads of respect to ya’ll but do ya’ll ever wonder what it’s like to go to a normal person school?”

Each school, whether it’s associated with a religion, private or public, has a goal to produce academically strong graduates. Of course, there are people who feed the stereotypical fire with their actions. But I would say the vast majority are doing the opposite. There is a lot more to attending a Catholic high school than money, drugs and sex. Instead, when I think of STA, I think of the homework which allows me to actually apply what I learn. I think of the teachers who are here for the overall benefit of the entire student body. Most of all, I think of the girls who are some of the most morally sound people I have ever met.

Because of that, I am proud to wear this tartan plaid every day. I am proud to tell people where I attend high school. We attend one of the most academically challenging schools in the Kansas City area, and because some onlookers are blind to that aspect, it is our job to set the record straight. Sure, STA may be unrightfully associated with worldwide stereotypes, but aren’t we taught to break those barriers?