What happened to us?
We used to be one school. Sure, students transferred here because we were a new school with new people, but stayed because we were different. There wasn’t the same exclusivity between groups — everyone got along. Remember “#lovemysouthwestfamily?”
So when did we go wr
ong? It’s only been three years. It’s hard to believe that once the novelty wears off, we’ll turn into just another cookie-cutter replica of high school clichés. We used to be unique in our desire to be different. Now, that’s starting to change.
Take, for example, the rising tension between the sophomore and senior classes. While it’s present elsewhere around school, it’s easily noticeable at assemblies: 10th graders out-shouted the seniors with their class cheer twice this year. While this resulted in spirited rebuttals from both sides, it wasn’t the kind of spirit the pep rallies are designed to provoke.
Now, competition can be a great thing; it can drive a team to win a State championship or motivate a student to excel in school. The only challenge lies in learning where to draw the line. Unfortunately, we crossed every line when we disrespected o
ther students, and that absolutely needs to change.
To be blunt, we shouldn’t make lists of the “Top 10 Hottest Girls.” More than once. On the internet. What’s next, our own burn book?
“It just makes me angry because people don’t realize how much this hurts people’s self-esteem,” sophomore Chelsea Schupp said. “I honestly didn’t care that I wasn’t on the list; it just made me really frustrated because people don’t actually know how much that can bring a person down.”
As a result, the incident hurt several people in our school’s community, whether they were involved or not, because it changed everything we once stood for.
Everyone can’t get along 100 percent of the time, but as a school, we should make everyone feel valued and safe. Not just safe from direct verbal abuse, but also safe from judgment by our peers.
Our school can still be that “Southwest family” everyone said we were, but we have to decide what will become of us together. And that’s a decision we can’t put off for five years, when our novelty has completely worn off. We have to make that decision now.
What is your opinion on the top 10 list on Twitter?
“I think it can end up as a disaster. People could feel left out and that would make the people at the top of the list feel better about themselves and start hurting other people’s feelings.”
Freshman- Trevor Agonis
“I just think it’s stupid. Girls freak out about it because they’re not on it, and it’s not really a big deal.”
sophomore- Alisha Nguyen
