El Paso’s Favorite Conversation Starts With High School

If you meet someone new in El Paso, eventually on question is going to come up. Just give it a few minutes and you get hit with:

"So... where did you go to high school?"

It's one of those things locals do almost automatically. New friends, coworkers, dates, and even complete strangers somehow end up talking about high school. So we asked our Facebook followers a simple question: why do El Pasoans always ask where someone went to high school?

The answers ranged from surprisingly thoughtful to hilariously unhelpful.

El Pasoans Say High School Is the City's Unofficial Introduction

Many people agreed that asking about high school is the quickest way to figure out someone's background.

One commenter put it simply:

"It's the simplest of background checks."

JB

Others said it helps you figure out what side of town someone grew up on, whether you know the same people, or if you might have crossed paths years ago.

Because let's be honest: in El Paso, it feels like everyone knows someone who knows someone!

Of course, not every answer was that deep. Some joked that the reason is "because everyone in El Paso peaked in high school," while others insisted, "It's not just El Paso that does this."

JB

And, because I know some are wondering; for the record, I went to Parkland.

READ MORE: Viral TikTok Calls Out these 15 El Paso High Schools 

You Can Take the El Pasoan Out of El Paso, But Not the High School Question

One of the most interesting things about the conversation was how many responses came from people who no longer live here.

People now living in San Antonio, Austin, Philadelphia, Alabama, and other places all said the same thing: when they meet another person from El Paso, they still ask where they went to high school!

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Apparently, the habit doesn't disappear when you leave the Borderland!

Even hundreds or thousands of miles away, the question still works. It's a shortcut to figuring out whether you have mutual friends, shared memories, or some random connection you never expected.

READ MORE: El Paso High's Haunted Throne Faces a New Challenger

In El Paso, High School Is Really About Finding Common Ground

The more comments rolled in, the more obvious the answer became. Asking where someone went to high school isn't really about school at all.

It's about placing someone on the map of El Paso. It's about figuring out what neighborhoods you both know, who you might know in common, and whether your lives have already crossed paths without either of you realizing it.

Because despite being one of Texas' biggest cities, El Paso still has a way of feeling like a small town.

And maybe that's why the question never goes away.

Around here, "Where did you go to high school?" isn't just a conversation starter, it's the El Paso way of asking, "How are we connected?"