The Real Sterling High School
Cassandra and all her oversexed peers in Sexual Awakening, book one in The Rock Star’s Wife series, attend Sterling High School in Sterling, IL. This blog compares the real and fictional versions of the school.
The real school, located on 4th Avenue, is part of Sterling Public Schools. There are six schools in the district: the high school, Challand Middle School (where Cassandra met Shawna, Jen, Jennifer and Tiffany), and four elementary schools ‒ Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln and Washington. Lincoln and Washington are grades three through five while Franklin and Jefferson are pre-kindergarten through second grade. Cassandra meet Jenny at one of the elementary schools when they were in kindergarten. Enrollment is currently 3,161 students districtwide, approximately one-third at the high school.
The high school’s mascot is the Golden Warriors, and the school colors are navy and gold.
My high school had a hallway where each class’s lockers were located. I incorporated this into the fictional Sterling High School. The real school has its own version. Sterling’s freshman academy is located in a first floor hallway.
I can’t verify what the school was like in the 1990s, but it no doubt has changed over the past three decades. The real school refers to class “hours” not “periods.” There are seven class hours between 8 a.m. and 2:50 p.m., each 45 minutes long, with an eighth hour for students who need help from teachers. Students are not permitted to carry backpacks during the school day. I’m guessing this is so no weapons are brought carried into the building.
Driver’s education is a graduation requirement at the current high school. Cassandra and her siblings and cousins would have failed that class considering they weren’t permitted to get their licenses until after graduation.
Cassandra and Kelly are members of the majorette squad. The real school does not have a squad, nor does it have a debate team (which Ryan is a member). It does, however, have a speech team. There is a chess club (Ryan), a cheerleading squad (Karen) and a football team (Travis).
What Are Academics Like at Sterling High School?
What type of education would Cassandra and her peers received at Sterling High? To answer this question, I consulted multiple websites that rank schools.
U.S. News ranked the school 5,999th in the nation and 199th in Illinois in the most-recent annual Best High Schools report.
According to Public Schools Review, the school ranked in the top 50 percent of schools in Illinois for overall test scores, but the percentage of students proficient in both math and reading was lower than state average.
Niche gave the school a grade of A- and ranked it 127th out of 698 high schools in the state. The school ranked highly for academics, but poorly for STEM education where it ranked near the bottom.
Finally, Great Schools gave the school a five out of a 10. A total of 74 percent of students go onto college or vocational training, which is slightly above the state average. Participation in AP courses was 10 percent higher than the state average.
So, it looks like Cassandra and her peers would have received an average, but not an exceptional, education. Kinda puts her and Jason’s competition to see who will become valediction in perspective, doesn’t it?
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What was your high school like? Leave a comment below. Comments close after 90 days.
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Here’s the 4-1-1
This blog is a companion piece to The Rock Star’s Wife, a series about sex, family, and rock & roll. The series has elements of chick lit, romance and erotica and is best compared to The Vagina Monologues for its frank talk of sex and its consequences. The series follows Cassandra from her teenage years into her 40s as she navigates relationships (both romantic and platonic) — all with music playing a prominent roll.
Book one, Sexual Awakening, drops February 2023: Teenager Cassandra Economos loves five things: Her awesome friends. Her big fat, dysfunctional, Greek family. Rock music. Her plan to move to Chicago. And Kurt Cobain. Soon, she’ll gain another love. Sex. Stifled by her family’s rules, how will Cassie explore her sexuality?
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Melina Druga
Melina Druga is a multi-genre author with a lifelong love of music, books and writing. She is the author of the Rock Star's Wife series, six historical fiction novels and nine nonfiction books. Based in the Midwest, Druga lives with her husband, daughter, black cat and CD collection.
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