Infamous for being the inspiration for Mean Girls, this edition, we visited the National Cathedral School. 

NCS is an all girls middle/high school that shares its grounds with the National Cathedral, as well as its all boys counterpart, St. Albans. 

We started our tour in the Hearst building, home to NCS’s humanities classes. Unlike Jackson-Reed, students aren’t constrained to just English l, ll, and lll. Rather, NCS offers a variety of English classes such as American literature, dystopian literature, and poetry.

In the basement was their cafeteria which offered a buffet style lunch with lots of options. Adjacent was a school “bookstore.” The bookstore was quite impressive with tons of NCS merch and snacks for students and staff. From parkas to pens (6 dollar pens might I add), the amount of gold and purple contained in one little room was enough to make us go blind.

Next we crossed the street and walked through the courtyard to the Woodley building where the STEM takes place. 

We noticed the interesting architecture in both buildings with spiraling staircases and a view of the Cathedral from every window. There was a two-story wooden library with closed-off nooks for students to work in. 

After the trek to the athletic facilities, which was a work out in itself, we were shown everything sports-related. There were upper and lower fields, three practice basketball courts, and one main athletic building with the centerpiece being a huge rock climbing wall. 

Apparently students are exempt from PE if they play a sport every season. If students don’t participate in a sport and don’t want to take PE, they are able to take a yoga or pilates class. 

Instead of supporting their own teams like a true Jackson-Reed Tiger would, students at NCS cheer for St. Alban’s sports leaving the stands at girls games empty. 

Not much better than the sports culture, the social scene also seemed bleak. The environment is very cliquey and competitive. According to our honest tour guide, whispers spread like wildfires and everyone knows that secrets can’t be kept. This might be why when you catch up with that one girl you went to middle school with who now goes to NCS, she says she hates it. This was no surprise due to the incessant stereotypes that fit NCS so perfectly.

What did surprise us was the weird scheduling. They have A, B, C, D, E, F, and G days?! Even after an attempted explanation we still don’t really know how the schedules work. We do know that every C day students are required to go to the Cathedral for a church service because it’s Episcopal.

While the school is undeniably pretty and has nice amenities, the competitive school and social culture is painfully evident, even for us outsiders. 

What seems to be a constant with the private schools of DC is that they all leave their backpacks any and everywhere. Still puzzled by that one. •