Group Stigmatization

When I was a freshman I took AP AB Calculus, which is a higher level than typical for high school freshman.  Many of the people I befriended at Sage were high-achieving students, some of whom wished that they were in calc instead of Accel Algebra II or Accel Pre-Calc.  When people learned about what class I was taking I became "That kid who is in calculus."  People would start bringing it up all the time, and I started getting pretty uncomfortable mentioning it.  It got to the point where I would start telling people I took math rather than calculus because it felt too much like bragging.  I think the label affected me in a slightly negative way; it made me feel like I had done something wrong by taking an advanced class that interested and engaged me.