Naperville vs. Aurora

I grew up in Naperville, Il a quaint slice of cookie-cutter suburbia. The town itself been ranked by Money magazine as one of the top three cities to raise children in the country for the past 6 years in a row. The vast majority is upper middle class and lives in subdivisions. My close college friends who are not native to Naperville noted that many streets eerily resemble "Desperate Housewives' Wisteria Lane." The town of Naperville itself is situated next to a city of approximately equal size, Aurora. Together these two cities create a the most prominent epicenter for business and industry in Illinois outside of Chicago. Unfortunately, if we likened the two cities to siblings, Aurora, known for its high crime rates, is the delinquent. Naperville, the praised leader, incites pride within its residents. Unfortunately this feeling of superiority over its sibling quickly mutates to haughty disdain.

My subdivision was located about 3 blocks away from the boundary between Naperville and Aurora. The local school district contained two high schools - one in Naperville and one in Aurora. Due to my proximity to Aurora, my subdivision fell within the boundary for the Aurora high school, Waubonsie Valley as opposed to the Naperville school, Neuqua Valley. Both schools boasted Grammy Award winning music programs, offered the same curriculum and had competent teachers, but this was overlooked by many members of my subdivision. Waubonsie's location in the crime-ridden, gang-infested Aurora gave it a repulsive stigma. To prevent their children from associating with potential gang members, many families often moved their children out of my subdivision by the time they reached early middle school. All moved south, into the boundary of the 80 million dollar work of beauty that was Neuqua Valley.

My family refused follow suit. I attended Waubonsie Valley high school for four full years. I received an excellent, challenging education. Waubonsie did have the second most fights in the state of Illinois, (which I attribute to a combination of hormonal, sensitive teenagers and gang activity), but we this was all we made headlines for. Despite the fights, I never once felt unsafe in the school, because I knew the teachers and faculty truly cared about the students. Neuqua, with its vast population of wealthy, arrogant children made the news countless times for rampant drug use and bank robberies. (During my four years I read about at least 6 bank robberies by Neuqua students.) When the state compared average ACT and AP scores, Waubonsie students always scored higher than Neuqua students. Despite this, Neuqua received much more recognition nationally, which I still fail to understand why to this day.

Now, whenever I hear some overtly prideful Napervillian say with dripping disdain, "Oh, you went to Waubonsie?" I slightly cock my head to side, smile widely and say, "Yes, yes I did, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life."