50 Things We Will Miss About Baltimore When We Graduate

Jude Harvey and Scarlett O’Comartun
Number 14: Going to 7-Eleven After School. (Jude Harvey for The Muse)

As the end of our senior year approaches, many students from the class of 2026 are nearing their departure from Baltimore, maybe for the first time. Like those students, we will also spend next fall in a city other than the one that raised us.

We obviously know the things in this list won’t apply to every person in Baltimore, or at Baltimore School for the Arts, but as the year wraps up we wanted to acknowledge the things that have made the city special to us.

We have thought of a list of things from “The Greatest City in America”, as mentioned on many bus stop benches, that we will miss dearly.

We apologize to anyone who is offended that we did not include Old Bay, the Domino Sugar Sign, Natty Boh, the Baltimore Shuffle, the Ravens, the lights on 34th Street, Flamingos, the word “Hon”, John Waters, or anything about Charm.

Number 1: When the Dooby’s Barista Puts just Enough Simple Syrup in your Coffee. (C.T. Pham for The Muse)

FOOD

  1. When the Dooby’s Barista Puts just Enough Simple Syrup in your Coffee
  2. When You Leave a Coffee Shop and Smell Like it for the Rest of the Day
  3. Egg Custard Snowballs with Marshmallow Fluff
  4. Royal Farms
  5. Dunkin Donuts
  6. The Lack of Raising Cane’s, but the Endless Talk About Raising Cane’s
  7. The Charmery
  8. Waiting in Line for the Crab-Dip Bagel from Cafe Dear Leon
  9. Ekiben
  10. Little Donna’s
  11. Pizza Verde
  12. Bmore Licks
  13. Smiley Fries in the Cafeteria
  14. Going to 7-Eleven After School
  15. Emma’s Tea Spot
  16. The McDonald’s That Keeps Burning Down and Rebuilding in Northwood Commons
Number 29: Student Government Town Halls at BSA, Always a Very Dire and Serious Situation. (Ella Haber for The Muse)

PLACES

  1. The Plentiful Collection of Free Museums (BMA, Walters, Peale)
  2. Greedy Reads
  3. The Bromo Seltzer Tower
  4. Telling People That Camden Yards was the Longest Building In America at the Time it was Built, and if You Put it on its Side it’s Taller than the Empire State Building
  5. When We Have School on the Day of Flower Mart and During Every Class the Teachers Pretend they Aren’t Going to Let us Visit… but Then Let us Visit
  6. The Charles and Senator Theater
  7. AVAM’s Flicks From the Hill
  8. The National Aquarium, Specifically the Escalator with the Mirror that Everyone Takes Selfies in
  9. Fort McHenry and Getting an Ego Boost Knowing that my City Helped Win the War of 1812
  10. The Book Thing (Which I genuinely thought was just a bookstore that somebody forgot the name of for a long time)
  11. The Waverly Farmers Market
  12. The Ottobar
  13. Student Government Town Halls at BSA, Always a Very Dire and Serious Situation
  14. The Giant Parking Lot on Thanksgiving Day
  15. Watching Fireworks Over the Harbor
  16. The Fancy Bathroom that BSA Only Opens for Performances in the Ballroom
  17. Roller Skating (R.I.P. Skateland Putty Hill)
Number 44: When Georgia Comes out During the Black History Month Showcase and You Know the Dance is Going to be Amazing. (Kyndall Roots for The Muse)

EXPERIENCES

  1. When the Bus Comes on Time
  2. Winter Morning Sunlight
  3. The Culture
  4. When There is a 10% Chance of Snow and Every BCPSS Student Comments on Tabitha’s Posts that it is Inhumane for them to be Required to Attend School
  5. Going to an Orioles Game and Pretending to be Surprised when Felix Bautista comes onto the Field and they Shut all the Stadium Lights Off
  6. Seeing Nutcracker: A Magical Tale in Mt. Vernon Multiple Times and Listening to the Pas de deux On Repeat for the Next Week
  7. Watching the People you Sit Next to in Math Class be Absolutely Incredible in their Spring Show and Being in Awe Every Time
  8. Mr. Lemonstick
  9. Trying to Get your Homework Done with Anyone and Everyone in your Lunch Period Before it’s Due that Day
  10. Complaining about the Aforementioned Homework Overload but Secretly Liking the Thrill
  11. When Georgia Comes out During the Black History Month Showcase and You Know the Dance is Going to be Amazing
  12. The Turnstile Free Concert Last Summer
  13. Watching Liberty Heights or Another Movie Set in Baltimore
  14. When you See People at TWIGS or Auditioning, and you Feel Lucky to have Gotten to go to BSA
  15. Seeing Amy Sherald’s Work at the BMA
  16. That Time Everyone said Edward was in Creed III
  17. Telling People Tupac Went to My School, Even Though He Left Before Graduating

To contact this writer, email Muse Newspaper at musebsa@bsfa.org.

Featured photos by Jude Harvey, C.T. Pham, Ella Haber, and Kyndall Roots for The Muse.

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