What, you’ve never heard of Parkland High School? It’s the school that made the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs.
OK, so chances are you haven’t heard of this Allentown, Penn., high school which, unlike the famous Star Wars line referenced above, doesn’t fly through the depths of space at faster-than-light speeds.
But you don’t have to be a Star Wars aficionado to see that, from above, the school bears a strong resemblance to the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo’s iconic starship from the original Star Wars trilogy (and back in the newly released The Force Awakens).
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“If you look at it, it’s really uncanny,” Nicole McGala, Parkland’s Director of Community Relations, told CBS News in Philadelphia.
McGala added that she wasn’t “entirely sure” when someone first pointed out the similarity, though the common consensus is that it was first noticed by users on popular social networking site Reddit back in 2012.
The school was designed by Minnesota-based architect Dean Beeninga. While he admits he’s a big Star Wars fan, he says any similarities were not intended.
“What I like about the design is it’s efficient like the spaceship. It looks pretty streamlined.”
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Of course, students at Parkland probably hope that their school has a better track record of technological failures than the Falcon.
The school, which services over 3,000 students between Grades 9 and 12, has claims to fame beyond its physical resemblance to a Corellian YT-1300 freighter. Among its more well-known alumni are Andre Williams, a running back for the NFL’s New York Giants, former congressman and majority whip Donald Snyder and Bones actress Michaela Conlin.
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