Who am I? I’m a 17-year-old girl. I hang out with friends on the weekends and listen to music. I play a team sport and participate in other school activities like Relay for Life. I love to shop and eat frozen yogurt. I watch television and movies on a regular basis. Oh, and one more thing—I’m in Academy.

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m part of The Academy of International Studies, a group so special that it even has its own Urban Dictionary definition: “A collection of at any given time 120 or so high schoolers lacking enough social skills to adequately communicate and so smart they could probably end world hunger if they weren’t so busy discussing it.” But, I know what you’re thinking. How is it possible that such a seemingly normal 17-year-old is part of a program that has a reputation for being filled with nerds that spend every hour of the day studying?

For the past three years I’ve dealt with this stigma on a regular basis. From being required to speak another language fluently to being guaranteed admission at an Ivy League school, I could write a book on the myths that I hear. Here are the top three misconceptions that I’d like to address:

1. We don’t have friends. I’ve heard this rumor since eighth grade, when I decided to apply for Academy. Now, with three years of experience, I know for a fact that this is false. Thirty kids are admitted into Academy. We spend two and a half hours together for five days a week. I’ve found some of my best friendships in Academy because of all the time we share. In addition, my “non-Academy” classes, like math and science, have helped me find other friendships. We don’t live in a bubble like some may think.

2. We do nothing but study. As I mentioned earlier, I’m involved with various other activities outside of school. I’m not the exception to this myth. In my Academy class alone, we have varsity athletes, musicians, singers and actors. Although Academy kids are hard-working students dedicated to learning, we also find passions outside of school to pursue.

3.We are “perfectly brilliant” in all subjects. This myth irritates me the most. I cannot count the number of times that I’ve heard the phrase “but you’re in Academy!” in response to an academic challenge that I’ve shared with others. Many people perceive us as nerdy intellectuals who never struggle academically. We’re just teenagers, cut us some slack! Academy is an interdisciplinary, humanities based program that mainly revolves around class discussions. The first few hours of our school day are spent devoted to studying English, history, and a foreign language. We are challenged by our teachers to think outside of the box and connect topics to the globalized world. Although the program is selective, none of us are perfect. Nearly all high school courses are rigorous in one way or another. Admission into the Academy does not mean that we are of higher intellectual worth and can thus breeze through high school.

I don’t want to undermine any of my classmates, though. All of my peers are diligent, critically thinking students. However, I want others to recognize that we are typical teenagers, too. We go to football games and school dances, but we also like to learn.