The Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference is one of the biggest, most competitive conferences in the state and has even been nationally recognized as a superior secondary athletic conference. The MIC consists of eight schools; Ben Davis, Carmel, Center Grove, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, North Central, Pike and Warren Central. Each of the schools have different relationships and rivalries for different competitions.The NCHS Live! Team looked to get a deeper understanding and insight of what the MIC schools think of each other.

Juniors Annie Salter and Tamara Smith attend Carmel High School and have strong opinions on North Central as there is a strong rivalry between the two schools. However, not all of these views are negative. 

“I would describe North Central as a school with a lot of pride, and with this a lot of school spirit. This is because anyone I know that attends North Central has a strong sense of community at the school and is always excited to participate in school events,” Salter said. 

Smith characterizes North Central as “independent” because she feels she “doesn’t hear anything from around the school due to its good environment and reputation.” 

In many programs, Carmel and North Central have an ongoing rivalry and this is shown as both schools excel in their athletics and academics programs. North Central and Carmel meet in many state championships whether it is academically or athletically.

“I think North Central is known a lot for their sports and academics. Going to Carmel, I know they are some of our biggest competition in the district competing directly alongside our sports teams in a lot of championships. Similar to that I know that North Central has a wide variety of courses that students are able to take,” Salter said. 

However, Smith feels that North Central is known for the parties they throw throughout the year. “I’m always hearing of big, fun parties at North Central that are really popular,” Smith said. 

Carmel High School is located just north of Indianapolis and North Central, so many panthers have visited Greyhound territory and vice versa. Smith and Salter have both visited the athletic facilities multiple times and both agree that NC holds many quality athletic fields. 

“I’ve been to North Central twice in the past year, one for a sports game and another time for the ACT. When in the school I initially noticed the layout being a lot different from my school, along with the basketball court being much smaller than ours. Besides that I think the areas I was in (the library, cafeterias, and basketball courts) were very similar in size to our school in comparison to our student body to yours” Salter said.

If given the choice to go to another school if Carmel closed, Salter and Smith explained which school they would go to and why.

“If I didn’t attend Carmel High school I would most likely want to attend North Central High School. I know that personally a lot of the courses I’m interested in at Carmel are not offered at some of the other MIC schools, a lot of them regarding IB courses and visual arts. North central has often been compared to Carmel for their excellent academics and successful class grade point averages,” Salter said.

“I would go to North Central or Center Grove because I know those schools better than some of the other MIC schools and they have good programs for what I am interested in,” Smith said. 

The MIC is one of the biggest, most well-known and successful conferences in the state for both athletics and academics.

“I would describe MIC schools in their entirety as diverse. All of my friends I have from other schools such as Ben Davis, Center Grove, Pike and others all have a strong sense of pride in their school’s clubs, sports and academics regardless of how different each of our schools are. All having different special things to offer students, I still believe that attending any school in the MIC would be able to offer any student many opportunities in their high school career. I enjoy the differences we all have because it makes for many interesting competitions and attitudes throughout the MIC,” Salter said.

Smith believes that one of things that makes the MIC so successful is the size of the schools. “All of the schools in the conference are very large and having such high numbers can correspond to how well the school does in different athletic and academic atmospheres,” Smith said.