Punta Gorda

The best town in the Florida... no, wait, the entire WORLD. That is, if you're a) on crack; b) a redneck; or c) over 55.
The only entertainment for teens is the small and extremely dull mall and the overpriced movie theatre. Wait... that's in the next town.
World-famous as the former Best Place To Live, and now as "the place that got destroyed by Hurricane Charley" in August 2004.
Most middle and high school students now attend school in portables thanks to the hurricane that wiped out the (ancient and already falling apart) schools. The high school's mascot is a Fighting Tarpon, and yes, that is a type of fish. The high school is filled with terrible academics, stupid people, a heavy concentration of rednecks and that annoying "I-hate-the-world-so-I'm-going- to-dress-all-in-black-and-not-shower" type of people, vicious and cruel-hearted teachers, and "guidance counselors" that try to send honors students to the local community college.
Punta Gorda is the home to a lot of old people year-round and even more during the winter. None of these old people are good drivers. It is also home to a lot of people who graduated from the high school and whose children have teachers that taught their parents.
Almost every person under 18 complains about Punta Gorda constantly and plans on leaving imediately following graduation. In fact, getting out of Punta Gorda is such a big deal that some people may even kill themselves if they don't get the hell out of the godforsaken town.

When Punta Gorda was on CNN in August 2004 after Hurricane Charley, the caption said, "Punta Gorda - A retirement community."

And yes, Punta Gorda really is THAT BAD.

Punta Gorda is located in Southwest Florida, in Charlotte County. It is located about 30 miles north of Fort Myers and a couple hours south of Tampa, which means if you are spoiled, make a good paycheck or somehow know people out there you have some chances of enjoying yourself. I fit none of those criteria.

As a bit of a breakdown of ages, 8.3% of the residents are under the age of 18, while 2.1% of the residents are aged 18-24. So basically, after everyone graduates high school, a good 75% of them flee town as fast as they can. Can't blame them, since HALF the population is 65 years or older.

For anyone 50+ years of age, married and close to retirement, it's heaven on earth.

For any 20 year old single male without enough money to evacuate (temporarily or permanently), it's hell on earth.

Punta Gorda killed my hopes and dreams.

1: A city in Florida full of rich people (in Punta Gorda Isles), criminals (on Cooper street), whiners (city wide), and 30 mph speed limits (city wide). There aren't any stores in the city limits because the city counsel doesn't allow it. The hosptial offers good care on the first floor but sucks balls upstairs. The high school is a piece of crap known as Charlotte High School and can't move on after losing their "historic school" that was destroyed in Hurricane Charley and has the worst academic record in all of Charlotte County. Any teenager with brains gets his/her parents to sign the paper so they can attend cross river rival Port Charlotte High School in Murdock, Florida to get away from the weirdos at CHS.

2: Fat Point in Spainish

A school in Punta Gorda, Florida that is full of the most annoying administrators that will indeed write you up for walking down the wrong side of the stairs and hugging too long.

PGMS is also filled with whiny guidance counselors that complain about their pathetic lives constantly.

Every single teacher in Punta Gorda Middle School thinks that they are the most important thing to have ever been born, and most of them inform the students way to much about their personal lives. Most of the employees at PGMS are so far up their own asses, I'm surprised they can still breathe.

The band is a joke, and continues to be a total fail in Charlotte High School.

There is an average amout of Emos that think they have the worst lives ever and have figured out the world's meaning and are very depressed about it, red necks that go hunting and mudding and have total disregard for the people walking down the hallway that don't want to step on the pile of sun flower seeds the just spit on the floor (which continues and is even worse at Charlotte High School.) Then there are the jockish boys and the preppy girls and then just the rest are the odd people. There is a pretty low population of ghetto kids, even though we are very close to Cooper street.

The building itself looks like a prison and feels like one too. It is three stories high and climbing those stairs several times a day to get to your classes is pretty hellish.

A school with good teachers but BAD, BAD students!Students do ok academically (only because of the wonderful job that the teachers do), but they are very cliquish and nasty to each other. Teachers make this an A school, not the a**hole students. My apologies to the hand full of respectable students at this school; I really do feel sorry for you.

Ahh Charlotte High school,The definiton of a corrupt school.
Sure,Some people might think its a great school.But 90% of the students will say they hate it.This school revolves around sports.When the hurricane hit punta gorda,the first thing charlotte high decided to do is rebulid the gym and football stadium.Get the point?Hell,half the teachers are coaches.And theres so many cliques you can't count.
You have your typical snobby girls who think their hot shit when in reality there going absolutley nowhere in life.Then theres the rednecks,all they do is chew tobacco which i guess the staff could give a shit about.Even though it's a tobacco free campus.
And of course whats a high school without jocks,the Jocks basically rule the school,that is if there good,which most of them are not.Not to mention about 75% of the kids at charlotte smoke pot.And if your being picked on,Don't tell a teacher or the "resource officer".they'll just try to scare the bully with a detention or suspend him for two days.So,when i ask someone what they plan to do after the high school, they give me the same answer everytime.Get the fuck out of charlotte county.