So I attended Michael Jordan's High School...Here's what it was like...

The entrance to Michael J. Jordan Gymnasium at E.A Laney High School

When you walk into the gymnasium (either one, there's actually two of them now) the first thing you're likely to notice is the huge Jumpman logo in the center of the floor. Pretty on-brand for the gymnasium named after the most famous alum of E.A. Laney High School: Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

I attended Laney as a student from 2013-2017, but I honestly I kind of grew up there. My granddad taught there many years ago, my nana (his wife) has worked as a substitute teacher there for over 30 years and served as the "team mom" for the football and basketball teams; also getting inducted into the Laney athletic hall of fame alongside Jordan. My mom and her sisters all went to Laney as well. My oldest aunt graduated with Jordan, my middle aunt was a cheerleader and dancer there, and my mom? Well, she was class president and won the "Miss Laney" pageant while she was there...yeah that was actually a things, a big one.

My older cousin played basketball and football at Laney so I spent many nights at his games dancing in the bleachers, cheering him on and dreaming of the day when I would finally be a student at Laney myself. I know that sounds corny, but it's true. High school looked like the coolest thing ever to a 7 year-old.

My two older sisters also went to Laney. Both played lacrosse and my middle sister was a manager for the women's basketball team. There's only a three and five year age difference between me and each of my sisters, so the way they paved for me was a pretty recent one. In fact, my middle sister was a senior when I was a freshman.

All of this is to say that Laney High School is pretty much in my blood.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Jordan grew up on the same street as my mom, grandparents and aunts? Yeah, he did. My grandparents were quite close with his parents and were often at each other's houses. Jordan's parents are actually my cousin's godparents. 

Inside the new gymnasium at E.A. Laney

Okay, back to Jordan.

Usually when people find out that I went to high school, they'll say things like: 

"Oh, wow the basketball team must be really good!"

The girl's team was. The guys? Don't bet on it

"Do all the teams rock Jordan brand?"

Actually no. Obviously the basketball teams had an exclusive deal with Jordan, but most of the other teams had their own individual deals. Soccer teams rock ADIDAS, I think baseball wore Nike and the lacrosse team wore Brine. It was every team for themselves. Though I CERTAINLY reaped the benefits of the basketball teams' free Jordan gear. I became a manager for the girls' team, just like my sister, and managers received pretty much all of the same gear that the team did. Every season we'd receive Jordan sweats, t-shirts and a pair of Jordan shoes, totally gratis. The boys' team actually got TWO pairs of shoes a season, but that's neither here nor there...

"Does he come back often?"

Also no. Jordan rarely comes back to Wilmington at all, let alone to Laney. My mom has her own theories as to why that is, but Jordan tends to get a fair bit of flack for not coming back and doing more for the school and the city blah blah blah, but honestly, if you got rich and famous, would your first move be to run back to high school whenever you could?

Though there was one time he visited while I was a student. It was my senior year and the school told everyone about two weeks in advance that there would be a Gatorade commercial filmed in our gymnasium during a school day and that the main drop-off circle would be completely blocked off that entire day. This didn't shock many people.

 "Of course they want to use MJ's gym, who cares?" We had other things to worry about. It was pretty common for visiting college basketball teams to come by for a quick tour of the gym while in town to play UNC-Wilmington.

A few hours into the school day, whisperings began.

"Hey I heard so-and-so said that they saw Michael Jordan!!"

Of course they were quickly dismissed, especially by me. I knew how my fellow students were and that people were likely to want to start a stir. Although, there was a large black, surreptitiously tinted RV-sized trailer in the lot adjacent to the gym.

People began asking for hall passes to "go to the bathroom" in efforts to do reconnaissance through the door closest to the gymnasium hoping to get a peek for confirmation. Next came the Snapchat proof. Blurry photos taken through frosted windows began being circulated all across the school. By this point, news had reached teachers and faculty members, who tried to cull the throngs of curious and determined high-schoolers.

By the end of C-lunch, several reputable students had alleged confirmed sightings of the GOAT and teachers pretty much stopped giving out hall passes.

While I thought it was cool that he was there, none of my classes were close enough to the gymnasium entrance to warrant taking a look. Plus, I knew my chances of actually seeing him were slim, so I went about my day.

It wasn't until after the school day ended when I got my sighting. I was in the middle of lacrosse practice. Our "practice field" was a huge open space in the front of the school, right in front of the gymnasium. We were in the middle of a timed drill and I was scooping balls of the goal when I heard one of my teammates yell "Y'ALL LOOK ITS MJ!!" 

Sure enough, I turned around to Michael Jordan in the flesh, flanked by an entourage walking out of the gymnasium and towards the trailer. We all yelled to get his attention, completely abandoning our drill.

"AYE IT'S THE GOAT!"

"MJ WHAT'S UP?!"

"HEY MICHAEL!"

He turned to us and laughed as he waved. 

Pretty sure we didn't finish that drill in time, but at least we had a good reason,