After the 2021-22 school year and AP testing, I was nominated by CollegeBoard for their Rural and Small Town Recognition Award as part of their larger recognition program for underrepresented students like African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American/ Indigenous.

I felt weird claiming it, because I never considered our bustling ski town to be rural or small. We host Olympians, the Sundance Film Festival, and thousands (though it feels like millions) of tourists each year.

I couldn’t see how we were rural but I figured CollegeBoard wouldn’t mis-nominate me. What student wouldn’t take a free award?

Coming to Columbia University in New York City further confused me. Telling others I was from Park City, Utah, mainly generated reactions of “where’s that?” or “never heard of it.” I guess a town 2,000 miles away is irrelevant.

Soon I learned to simply substitute “Park City” with “small town.” Occasionally, however, I would be met with “I know Park City”, or “it’s not small.”

This placed me in a predicament. I certainly didn’t want to claim an unmerited “underrepresented” title, but I also felt like an official company set me up for this award. What classifies a town as rural?

Looking into it, rural is defined as “areas with fewer than 2,000 housing units and 5,000
residents.” Oh, oh. Park City and surrounding Snyderville have a combined population of 15,140 (2020 census).

This seems to indicate we are not rural. But then, “area” is very ill defined.

A deeper dive shows that “425 housing units per square mile form the initial core of urban agglomerations. Peripheral census blocks with 200 housing units per square mile are added
to the core agglomeration.”

The housing unit densities for Park City and Snyderville are 522.26 and 124.79 units per square mile respectively.

Yikes. As a resident within city limits, it appears I am urban. Technically, Summit County is deemed as “Nonmetro,” but I was nominated for “Rural,” a word that I don’t meet by any definition.

Except, I researched that the 522.26 figure accounts for all housing units. Being the ski town that we are, only 32% (167) of these housing units are full-time occupied properties. I guess I am rural?

What does this mean? How can numbers embody what rural truly means for its residents? Understand that being rural is beyond images of 224 and the McPolin Barn, small-town gossip, and a certain vocal twang when speaking.

It boils down to access. Urban areas have more in them, affording more access to residents.

Whether it be the inefficient public transit, the fact that when I was born (2006) we didn’t have a hospital, or we only have one high school, this lack of access is palpable.

Park City is by no means a poor town. But due to the nature of our tourism industries, less than one-third of our town’s economy comes from local participation or from those who are regularly reinvesting in our community.

Labeling us as urban ignores the lack of access our town has. Despite doing incredible things with the little it’s given, it’s naive to say Park City could have the same opportunity as a more connected Sandy or Ogden.

As our town continues to change and become more “urban,” it is critical to appreciate the existence of underserved people before they are left with the past by the breakneck evolution of this town.

To finish with one final high school story,regarding those AP tests. Each one costs $98. Trying to ensure all registrants were able to take them, one of my teachers proclaimed, “It’s Park
City. I know you guys can afford it.”

Not true. My graduating class had over 23% of students eligible for free and reduced lunch and 17% of college-bound students were first generation.

Park City being rural once confused me, but now I see being rural is about serving the underserved, working for the community, and looking out for each other. As long as we see ourselves as urban, we are shifting ourselves away from these ideas that make our town so great.

Case Schemmer was born and raised in Park City. He’s now a student at Columbia University in New York City. 

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