I posted this in the Plot Realism forum, but I know not everyone makes it over there, so I'm hoping maybe I'll get a better response here.
I'm trying to figure out which high school my MC would have gone to. I'm interested to know what sort of reputations the different high schools have and what the demographics are. Does one high school have a lot wealthier population than others? Is there a lot of difference in the number of students at the different schools. That sort of thing.
Which areas of the town are nice to live in? Which are not so great/dangerous?
What radio stations are there and what do they play? The online radio guide that I found had a lot of contradicting information, so I've found it hard to tell where the radio stations are actually located.
Is there some place where a lot of high school students go? Does it vary based on the high school? Do any of the high schools have really huge rivalries? How about the active hiker types? Do they have a place that's really popular? How about a place that's a little more out of the way or sort of the "insiders" spot?
Basically, I want the sort of info that only locals know. The stuff they don't stick on the tourism and school district pages.
The original post is here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3025382
Just in case someone would rather add information to that thread for people who might need it.
----------
50,100 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 16 17
Some high schools you MC can go to are Snow Canyon (where I'm basing my novel), Dixie, Pine View and Desert Hills. If you choose Snow Canyon, I could possibly get you a map of the school, or at least a detailed description. (Seeing as I'm there right now.) I don't know the Pine View, Dixie or Desert Hills demographics, but at Snow Canyon, there are plenty of spoiled rich kids and a lot of gangs. I think Pine View and Snow Canyon are the richest, with Desert Hills being brand new, and taking kids from all three schools. I can't believe I forgot Tuacahn! That's the performing arts school, and one of my best friends goes there, so I know a lot about it. Basically, there are no cliques, no emos and no gangs there. And there are more girls than guys, and more straight guys than gay/bi guys.
The most run down/dangerous area is definitely Dixie Downs. (I used to have a friend who lived there, and she almost got killed by drug dealers walking home from school.) A nicer area is Santa Clara. Ivins is so-so.
The biggest high school rivalry that I can think of is Snow Canyon/Pine View. It's also Snow Canyon/Dixie, but as for myself, and most people I know, we want to beat Pine View more. (Especially the chess team and marching band.
As for popular places to hang out, I can only think of Laser Mania. Hiking would be Zion National Park or Snow Canyon State Park.
Radio stations:
Sunny (106.1) is the biggest pop station, The Hawk (95.9) is classic rock, The Planet (94.7) is country and pop, The Fox (102.3) is oldies.
50,334 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 20 55
Thank you so much. This is really great stuff and my novel will be a million times better because of it.
50,100 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2008 - 15 11
You're welcome. If you need any more info/pictures/links or anything, just message me.
139 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2008 - 08 43
If i were you I would base it at Dixie High School just because it was the first school in saint george. There is a complete history of it somewhere on line. We have a TON of traditions and a lot of school spirit which is fun to play with in writing. We win golf regionals EVERY YEAR, and usually tennis too. Our football team is ... okay. We have an AWESOME drama department (HEHEHE THATS ME :D) The biggest rivial is cedar city just becuase it is the oldest competition. Everyone from around town comes to the cedar v. dixie games. We are the flyers, and saint george emanates dixie spirit.
Pine View which is the closest school is another big rival, I don't know much about them. I new school just opened Desert Hills, so there is a lot of competition just because they took a lot of our students, but they are new so we don't know what will come out of them.
A lot of dixie students hang out at the sugar loaf it has dixie white washed on it and there are hiking trails and all sorts of that kind of thing. There are a lot of "insider" trails there also if you drive out to santa clara there are a lot of random trails. People go down to the arizona strip for a lot of reasons, dinosaur tracks, 4-wheeling, drag racing, free concerts, and drugs. (coming through Vegas only two hours away) We have a small dinky mall, but there is no definite place everyone hangs out at.
Most of saint george is fairly mild. There are some not so great places in washington near the downtown are... and Dixie Downs (road) is considered the run down are of STG. There are a lot of wealthy places around STG because of the housing boom.
Radio Stations: Sunny 106.1FM, the 90's & now. Star 98FM-KREC, playing Adult Contemporary(female oriented). The Fox 102.3/107.3 FM, Super Hits of the 60's & 70's, and more. 99.9FM KONY Country (biggest station) KZHK 95.9FM The Hawk (classic rock, also big), 94.1 FM The Planet (big), KZNU Fox News Radio 1450AM.
Hope that made sense and helps!
I am a junior at dixie so if you choose that school or need any help you can PM me.
139 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2008 - 08 44
I forgot about Tuachan it is a charter school for the arts but not a very good one. Also Snow Canyon High. Snow Canyon has a lot of "insider trails"
50,334 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 07 57
Thank you guys so much. My novel isn't actually going to take place in high school, but the first scene depends heavily on school rivalry and I like to know more things than my novel necessarily says. So it's important to me which high school my characters went to. Not to mention that my novel is going to be connected to my friend, Sotalia's novel. So we needed to figure out which high school her character went to as well. The information you guys have given me is super helpful. When you say Dixie is the oldest, do you know how old the others are? My characters were all in high school ten years ago. I'm really interested in the performing arts school for my female main character, but if it wasn't around back then, I'll choose another for her.
139 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 10 00
Dixie High School was established in 1911
Snow Canyon High in 1994
Pine View High in 1984
Desert hills 2008
and I think Tuachan was established later than 1995.
So all of them are possible (except tuachan).
Good Luck!
50,248 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2008 - 22 23
Hurricane, about 15 minutes away by freeway, and Hurricane High also has a longstanding feud with Dixie and Pine View, and is the gateway to Zion's National Park.
Oh, and once you are outside of St. George proper, and from some areas in it, you are about a 10 minute walk from the desert.
The old 'rich' part of town is Bloomington, but the 'natives' (3+ generations as opposed to 2gen or less) can be found in the central part of their communities. The old boys network is dominant in local government, with or without money. Foremaster ridge is new rich. And you can tell established communities from new developments by how much it looks like a forest from any of the surrounding hills. There are new developments springing up all the time, some more ambitious than others. The movies are still one of the most popular things for teens on a friday night(dinner and a movie). What still amazes me, even living here as long as I have, is that even though it has grown undeniably large, St. George does not look large, it is broken up by hills it has spilled over and around. Washington, while smaller is similarly broken up.
I'm tired, I may add more later.
50,334 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2008 - 10 55
Thanks so much, guys. I've decided that my characters went to Pine View. Though after spending some time at the Tuachan website to figure out just when it opened, I decided that the character that started this whole thing would have been able to transfer there for her last two years.
The information you've given me has been a huge help. I really went into this with a very very very skeleton plot, but I always like to have a good outline. This has really helped me to flesh out my characters and their histories, so I've been able to really fill in a lot of little holes to make the outline happen. I really just can't even thank you guys enough.
Now, I just need to go google me up some good pictures of the area so I can fill my desktop with them for writing inspiration.
EDIT:
Or not. I finally found better information at the Tuacahn site and the school didn't open until 1999. My characters would have all graduated in 1998. So it looks like she didn't transfer to Tuacahn. Though I'm looking at Snow Canyon as a possible place for her to have transferred to instead. Man. Just when you think you have things figured out, real life has to throw you a curve ball.
16,529 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2008 - 22 34
Pine View grad here, I'm still in town for college, so I know a bit what's going on with the schools. My knowledge of Desert Hills is pretty limited as it just opened this year. As far as I've heard, it has taken about 1/2 of Pine View's top performers in everything.I'd imagine the stats are pretty similar with Dixie transfers. By region averaging, Desert Hills has the richest students now, taking a lot of rich students from Dixie and Pine View both (most Bloomington and Bloomington Hills subdivisions) and having very few lower income regions. Dixie receives donations in huge number from its graduates who still live in the area, giving them the best equipment available and an awesome new building. I'll admit I was jealous when I saw it finished. :P
Reputations as I saw them: Pine View has dealers more than druggies and has a large focus on athletics, academics, and Art (Visual and Choir). Dixie is the Drama powerhouse, home to both the richest and poorest , average drug usage, more concerned as a whole with social matters than academics. Snow Canyon is the rich, drug-hazed school with a large focus on competitive sports. The administration at Pine View when I attended was trying to clean up the poor sportsmanship and these kinds of rumors at school. It worked, to an extent, and I believe there are less actual fights between them and other schools at the moment. Apart from the incident where a Pine View student planted a tree in the middle of Dixie's field, it was pretty chill. Speaking of Dixie's field, it was full of all kinds of ankle traps when I got out of HS.
Competitions when I graduated were a little different. Pine View was competing mostly with Snow Canyon in most big sports, while some minor rivalries were to be had between Pine View and Dixie and Pine View and Hurricane. Pine View was the largest school by numbers and Dixie the smallest (excepting Tuacahn, of course) with Snow Canyon I was born and raised in Santa Clara, St George downtown, and Bloomington Hills, in that order but despite being a native, social acceptance in the old-timer dominated community is still difficult. It's an interesting town, with a very distinct split between the "natives" (usually 2+ generations passed in town) and the "newcomers". Retail and business districts are on the Boulevard, E. Sunset Boulevard, N. River Road (incl. Red Cliffs Dr. and Telegraph, which are the same street at different areas), and Bluff Street (incl. W. Riverside Dr.).
St. George proper crime is based in the smaller "downtown" business district, between 100 W and 200 E and 300 to 700 S. I don't know much about the crime of other areas in town. My knowledge is limited to that branch. It's where the big stuff goes down, non-gang organized crime wise. Local gangs are the standard. Bloods, Crips, and the Hispanic national gang (I forget the name). Bloods are dominant at Pine View.
Yeah, that's about it for me. I rambled a bit, but give me a break. I was outlining for over ten hours today. O.O
EDIT: Oh, and I know several people that went to Tuacahn if you want more about it. It sounds mostly like you won't need much info on it if it wasn't there when your characters graduated.