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NORTON -- I sat quietly in one of the desks at the back of the classroom, listening to the chaos around me. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back against the wall, waiting for the opportune moment. Then it came.

"There's nothing to do in Norton!"

"If you're from New York and you chose to come to Wheaton, then you have no right to complain about there being nothing to do here," I said, my tone terse.

An immediate hush fell over the room and all eyes turned to me. It was just as I thought - while my classmates vehemently bashed the small town in which Wheaton College is located, they had all forgotten that I'm from Norton.

Growing up, Wheaton was simply a place a few miles from my home, a place where I went to summer camp and where each May I helped little old ladies climb into and out of golf carts as a volunteer during the college's Commencement Reunion. Once junior year of high school rolled around and I began preparing for the college application process, Wheaton became more of an academic reality to me.

The decision to attend Wheaton was a simple one for me. Once I convinced myself that going to a very small college located in my hometown, where my mother works and 95 percent of the staff already knew my name, would truly be better than braving plane flights or long car rides to schools outside New England, I had to convince my teachers and guidance counselors at Bishop Feehan that there really isn't anything wrong with attending college in my hometown.

After that, explaining to other members of my graduating class why I would be attending Wheaton and why applying to schools like Harvard and Georgetown "just for fun" wasn't important to me was a piece of cake.

Chocolate cake.

Did I mention that I'm allergic to chocolate?

In my family, academics have always come first, and thanks to my parents not only have I received an excellent education, but I've also inherited the desire to continue doing so.

Of course, the fact that my mother works at Wheaton, meaning that tuition - minus room and board, books, and the meal plan - is free had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to join the Wheaton community. Luckily for me, the best education I could receive was also the one with the best price tag.

My identity as a Wheaton student often becomes tangled with my identity as a Norton resident, a fact that surprised me during my freshman year. Having virtually grown up in Attleboro - I attended private schools and participated in extracurricular activities there - I didn't expect to have strong feelings for Norton when I moved onto campus.

Being called a "townie" in a tone that registers the same degree of disgust that one might use when discussing nursing home bedpans or other equally repulsive objects changed all that.

What many people don't realize is that there are quite a few of us at Wheaton who are from Norton and the surrounding towns. They fail to see our willingness to sacrifice the traditional experience of "going away" to college in order to reap the benefits of a Wheaton education. Wheaton senior Maeve Kelley of Norton chose to attend Wheaton over schools like Holy Cross and Suffolk based on her experiences as a Norton resident. Growing up, Kelley attended Pinecroft, a small elementary school located on the edge of the Wheaton campus.

"I always wanted to go to Wheaton," she said. "Wheaton students were often teaching assistants at our school. I definitely looked up to the students at Wheaton College and hoped that one day I would be a student there."

But Wheaton's academic reputation was as much an incentive for Kelley as it was for me. "Wheaton College also has an amazing English program, which includes film studies, something I was very interested in studying," said Kelley.

"I usually just laugh when someone calls me a 'townie' because everyone is a townie somewhere." she said. "Being from Norton and attending Wheaton College causes students to question their preconceived notions about the residents of Norton."

While I will readily admit to the occasional - OK, the frequent - fleeting desire to pursue my academic ambitions outside New England, or even outside Massachusetts, I, like other local students, look on my time at Wheaton without regret.

Wheaton junior Jackie LaVerghetta of Norton said that when she attended Norton High School she originally "wanted no part of going to Wheaton," despite taking courses at the college during her junior and senior years.

"It wasn't until I went to Boston College my freshman year that I realized that I really wanted to go to a small school, and that I would be happiest at a place like Wheaton," she said.

LaVerghetta's decision to transfer was also prompted by the connections she formed with the Wheaton community as a Norton resident.

"I also had a lot of friends I had made through classes and working at the college bookstore, and as I spent more time at Wheaton, I eventually decided to transfer," she said. "I'm so much happier at Wheaton, and since I live on campus, most of the time it's easy to forget that I'm in Norton."

LaVerghetta also cited one of the benefits of attending college in your hometown that is often overlooked by Wheaton students: a quick cure for homesickness.

"I get the best of both worlds," she said, "because if I ever want to go home, it's only five minutes away."

My house is only three minutes from campus (although if you include the time it takes to walk from my dorm to my car I could stretch that to about 15, if necessary), and I have to agree with LaVerghetta. While other students are booking $300 flights and trying to find a place to store their futon during the summer, I have the luxury of throwing my things in a few boxes, packing the car, and being "moved home" in little more than 20 minutes.

I guess you could say that I have my cake and get to eat it, too. Just as long as it isn't chocolate.

Paige MacGregor is a Wheaton student interning at The Sun Chronicle during the winter semester break. She can be contacted at macgregor.paige@gmail.com.