BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, or BISV for short, is certainly unusual compared to other schools in the area. Whether it’s the competitive environment, the unique student body that it fosters, or the overall location, the school stands out for a variety of reasons. “But wait, ” you may be asking. “How unusual are we? Are our hallways too crowded, or are they fine? Are our schedules too tight, too loose, or just right?”
To answer the question of how our school compares with others, I asked former classmates and past friends about their current schools and compared their experiences with my own.
A good starting point for understanding similarities and differences between us and other schools is our hobbies. A common trend among middle and high schoolers is the use of social media. For example, Instagram is very common among friends from various schools. The feature of Instagram Reels and the ability to communicate with a lot of people (because of how common it is) appeals to both BISV students and students from other schools. Furthermore, the ease of communication allowed many of my classmates to keep in touch with former classmates over the years, or friends they met outside of school.
Then, our cafeteria during early bird or late bird hours reveals a potent trend among middle schoolers in BISV and elsewhere: video games. During these time periods, we can see many students flashing a variety of games on their laptops, such as Roblox, Geometry Dash, or a niche browser game. Elsewhere, at places with looser rules on phones, other mobile games also emerge, such as Clash Royale or Brawl Stars.
In summary, BISV is just like any other school when it comes to hobbies, sharing an affinity for video games and social media. However, our campuses are radically different compared to other institutions. After touring several schools in our area, such as Gunn High School, I was quite stunned by the vast sizes of these campuses when compared with ours. Despite the fact that we have three floors, other schools all followed a different formula: scattered classrooms, mostly outdoor walkways, and facilities for a variety of sports, such as tennis, football, or even swimming. The vast space also allows students plenty of space to walk between classes, even with larger student populations. In contrast, the former IBM building that we call school is limited in its area, and it could be argued that it’s doing reasonably well for such a limited area. However, it can hardly compete for size with some of the other schools in our area.
While our school is rather small, BISV makes up for it with a unique student society. The courses are hardly a cakewalk to many, and students have to take seven of them each school year. Furthermore, in high school, students are required to take one AP course each year, but many of them take far more than the basic AP U.S. Government or APUSH, even selecting electives just for an extra AP exam.
This intense curriculum and rigor also set apart many BISV students. On top of basic schoolwork and AP courses, they also engage in plenty of extracurriculars, marked by the various in-school clubs and sports that nurture various skills. For example, academic clubs help gather students looking to learn more than the school has to offer in a certain field, and often participate in large-scale competitions such as the USA Biology Olympiad, the AMC exams, etc.
Furthermore, many students also see success as almost inevitable among students in BISV. After asking various classmates about success, many replied that “it’s impossible to fail” if one works sufficiently hard.
By reviewing facts and testimonials, we find that, however similar BISV may appear when compared with other schools, it still stands out in unique ways, which could be viewed as both positive and negative. On one hand, while our campus is unusual compared to others , our student body makes up for it with academic prowess.
