Roots

The Great Municipality of Lower Burrell, PA

            Lower Burrell, located just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, is a small city with close to 12,000 residents.  Lower Burrell is a somewhat depressed town that has lost a huge amount of its economic growth because

of the Pittsburgh Mills mall, which in turn has made the population decrease significantly since 2005 when the mall opened.

            Lower Burrell is a mixture of modern gated communities and average blue collar housing.  Although the city has lost a lot of its residents and income, Lower Burrell has managed to keep many of its wealthy residents and thus is clean and well kept.  Although it is technically a city, Lower Burrell is the epitome of suburban America; cul-de-sacs as far as the eye can see, and American flags hanging from every house.  Most people in Lower Burrell work in the city of Pittsburgh, mostly doing office work.  Others stay in Lower Burrell and run one of the many pizza shops, Italian restaurants, and tanning salons that we have.

            Burrell High School, where I graduated from, is a small AA school with roughly 600 students.  As you can imagine, there really is not much for teens to do in Lower Burrell, so we are mostly left making up our own fun.  This usually involves going to Sheetz at 3am to hang out, or pulling various pranks and antics where the local police get involved.  The LBPD hates high school students, mainly because we are the only people that cause any trouble in our town.  For instance, during my senior year, when Sheetz opened, 150 students skipped classes in order to wait in line to get a $100 gift card.  Our principal and vice principal, along with 3 Lower Burrell police officers, took it on themselves to go down to Sheetz, round up the students, and give them all three nights detention.  And the worst part was that the $100 gift cards were just a rumor.  However, although my high school had some drawbacks, it was overall a very nice place to attend.  Burrell High School had minor drug problems, it was usually pretty clean (except for chewing tobacco being on the ceilings in the bathroom) and the teachers were usually very nice.

            Lower Burrell, despite being a small, non-diverse town, has taught me to be a respectful person, and it’s taught me that although it may not be an ideal place, I’ll always be welcome somewhere.  It’s made me into the person I am in some way or form, and for that I am thankful.