I. I believe. I believe that. I believe that we need unity.
There is a problem at WS that needs to be addressed: class division. It has always been a part of our community as well as other high schools across the country. Freshmen will always be at the bottom of the food chain, seniors at the top, and sophomores and juniors make up the gray area in between.
The issue is that even though we all come together for the football games and other athletic and extracurricular events, all of the time spent beforehand is tending to a class rivalry that we don’t need. There is a difference between school spirit and class divisions; if people are participating in spirit days only because of the class competition then they obviously don’t fulfill their purpose of spreading school spirit and creating unity around the school.
I am not saying that there is no place for it in the school, however. A friendly rivalry is healthy and it brings out the competitive nature that is needed to push everyone and create excitement. When the competition gets to the point of vandalism or yelling obscenities at the other classes, which is an indication that we have gone too far.
If the Class of 2015 puts up a ’15 sign, it is their right to do so; after all, they are the seniors of the school. The junior class has no right to manipulate the sign into a ’16; they must go through the rite of passage that is junior year in order to earn it.
Settle down! You guys have two more years of school left. Sophomores cannot discriminate against the freshmen just because they are a year older than them; the difference between a sophomore boy and a freshman boy is the addition of one chin hair, you guys are underclassmen regardless.
Seniors are also accountable here too, just because graduation is months away does not present an opportunity to haze, TP other rails, or sit on a high horse pretending that they rule the school. It is only high school, it is not really important. To a certain extent, we are accountable for displaying how students should go about their high school careers. We are role models, and we are the example that others will follow.
We are not utilizing our school spirit correctly. It is not meant to determine which class is better than others, it is meant to celebrate the school as a whole. There is no question that we are immensely proud of our own classes, but we should also be proud of those above and below us. Keep on supporting the school, keep chanting during sporting events, and most importantly, remember that we are all Spartans.