It's definitely particular to each situation, but whether it is a long history, or someone that you're intimidated by, or someone that you didn't think you ever had a shot at, at the end of the day, I think we're all living through high school, every day.
The only reason I acted in school was because of the community. I was in the chorus of every play and was never the lead other than one time, but to me it was about the community. I was an English major and my whole goal was to be an English teacher and was lucky enough to get into the playwriting group. The whole experience I had at Brown was eye opening and the most mind-bending experience.
If you did go to high school and then college, there's definitely a solidarity with someone that is from your hometown and knows your mom, and all that stuff. There's this weird politeness that we have, as a society. You don't want to make it hard for anybody.
The only reason why I acted in school was because of the community, like I was in the chorus of every play, I was never really the lead.