Word travels fast at a small school. In high school, it is typical for students to take notice of relationships and spread the word, and at our small private school, relationships instantly become public information and gossip.

Relationships at St. Paul Academy and Summit School are affected by the fishbowl effect, meaning students in relationships are intensely observed and critiqued like they are fish in a bowl.

This lack of privacy is what could make dating at SPA a slightly unappealing idea. For those who are not in favor of publicly displaying their affections or romantic feelings, a small private school where everyone knows everything about everyone else can be a disastrous place for an intimate and serious relationship. However, for most SPA couples, the small size of their environment does not put much of a negative twist on their relationships.

Senior Julian D’Rozario focuses on the positives of going to the same small school as his girlfriend: “I get to see her on a day to day basis, and we get to drive to school together since we both live in Edina,” D’Rozario said. He does recognize some negative aspects of this, saying that “if you broke up with someone it would be kind of awkward because you can’t really get away from them,” but overall, he is not bothered by the SPA dating culture. “How big SPA is doesn’t affect my relationship,” D’Rozario said, “For me personally, it’s not a big deal.”

Junior Frank Nahurski, who is in a relationship, enjoy the time he gets to spend with his girlfriend at school, and think fondly of the fact that they attend the same school. “It is great to be able to see her every day in the same normal, safe environment. There is never too large a gap in time when I get to see her,” Nahurski said.

The main unfavorable aspect of dating for students is the fact that options are limited, and there is not a huge number of people to choose from. For many students, the tight social space provides few options, and social norms shrink the pool even further

. In comparison to other schools, “there are less people to pick from, so that makes dating harder. Plus it makes getting away from your ex harder,” D’Rozario said.

While students may have broad views on what it’s like to date within school, a survey shows the student body is in agreement on many other things. Students broadly agreed that couples at school tend to display their affection very publicly. Most students also found dating disinteresting or time-consuming: Over 72% of students said they were not in a relationship, although only about half of students said that SPA lacked the dating culture of other schools.

Although most older students are comfortable with having relationships within the school, many freshmen and sophomores disapprove of the idea, and do not consider the SPA environment a good one for a relationship. For Lukas Kelsey-Friedemann, a freshman, the idea of dating at SPA is fairly repulsive. “Other couples are boring,” Kelsey-Friedemann said, “People at SPA don’t know how to have a relationship.” For Kelsey-Friedemann, relationships in high school are just a bad idea in general: “High school love is cool if you have a cool [significant other], but it’s hard to find one who’s not super shallow and selfish because we’re teenagers,” he said.