Everyday 900 students walk the halls of Fargo North High School. Even though some may not have anything in common with each another, whether they are an athlete, musician, or artist, we all have one thing in common. We all attend Fargo North. Whether you like it or not, it binds us all together. How, you might ask? We stereotype Davies for being the “rich school” and the students for using all their “daddy’s money,” or Shanley for being a private school and thinking that they are better than us. However, we have many stereotypes about us here at North as well. I’m not saying that we have a label on our school, but there’s a variety of factors that make a North student very different from a West Fargo Packer, or one of those so called rich, private school students.

After interviewing students from other local high schools and looking into what makes students at Fargo North so different from the other schools, I found that nobody really knows what it’s like to go to school here. But hey, some people did comment on our classy way of transportation.

Let me explain. I’m sure you have been driving in North Fargo at some point and have looked out your window to see a pathetic, little motorcycle driving in front of you.  If you somehow forgot your entire 8th grade existence, these are called mopeds. If you see someone on a moped, there’s a 95% chance that they are a Fargo North Freshmen or Sophomore who forgot to leave this scooter-motorcycle thing at Ben Franklin.

Why do we have so many mopeds? I think that it is because of the tight community we have in North Fargo. We have everything you need, and it’s all less than five miles away. We have Hornbacher’s and many food places, including Grand J, Jimmy Johns and so on. Not to mention, both the middle and high schools are only blocks apart. However, when students grow up to the magical age of 15, they are able to get their license and can move on to greater things by getting a car. Meanwhile, the moped sits in the garage and collects dust until little brother,  Johnny, is old enough to get his permit and start driving a moped.

Aside from the mopeds, I was curious about what other schools thought about us. I asked some kids from other schools in the metro area to get their opinion about Fargo North. The results were kind of shocking. Of the eight people I asked, three of them said that they only knew one or two people from North, but those one or two individuals that they did know thought they were nice, good people. I found this very interesting because it made me realize that we are very secluded here in the northern part of Fargo. We aren’t close to any other schools. Except Oak Grove… but does that even count?

We truly have our own community here in North Fargo. How many of you will walk into the Northport Hornbacher’s and recognize at least two people? I’m sure many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. In fact, you probably dread going grocery shopping for the sole reason that you are guaranteed to see your third grade teacher, your mom’s best friend, your grandpa or one of the five guys from your class that works as a cashier. That’s what makes North such a great place! You can go into a store and know people, have a conversation with them, or of course, awkwardly try to avoid them because you don’t feel like “catching up.”

Fargo North is a community and that’s what makes us so different from the other schools. People can make fun of us for being secluded from other schools or diving mopeds around, but they just don’t understand the culture at Fargo North High School and what makes it such a great school.