Students from the Class of '24 bond together in class.
We are all familiar with High School Musical’s famous song, “We’re All In This Together,” where all the juniors band together in song and demonstrate their united and mature social dynamic. For most, this was the picture of high school we imagined growing up. But now that we’re here, we have come to realize that high school is nothing like that. In many ways that is because of the extremely high bar that the movie set for us. However, we can’t help but wonder how much the pandemic had an impact on our social dynamic.
The junior class did not have the traditional orientation which consists of meeting new friends, learning new lessons, and is a vital time to mature socially and emotionally. Therefore, many students feel disconnected from one another and find it more difficult to socialize with their fellow classmates. The lockdown caused students to stick to familiarity and cliques that were formed pre-pandemic.
Additionally, while Flipgrids and Zoom classes were certainly beneficial tools during the pandemic, they are not the best ways to meet your classmates, and they prevent students from reaching out and getting to know others. For the first few months of school, we were confined to small Zoom “boxes” in our computer screens. And even after that, we still had masks and social distancing that kept us apart in and outside of the classroom. These factors play a major part in the walls that still separate us from fully integrating ourselves socially.
Mr. Escobar, one of our deans who has witnessed previous classes mature and develop, stated, “There are guards and barriers making [us] a very armored class. So much has been taken away that there is general fear that it could be taken away again. [We] keep [our] guards up so that if it happens again, [we] are well-protected.”
The barriers in our social dynamic are noticeable at the attendance of school events. Many juniors remain confined to their familiar friend groups and don’t feel obligated to attend school dances and games and spend time as a class.
One junior student, Georgia McDougall, reflected on our class saying, “Our class compared to other classes doesn't participate in school functions as often. It feels that our class isn’t very involved in the community.” We notice the lack of involvement in dances, games, and leadership opportunities such as the Big Cats, which sets an example for the following classes.
The Class of '24 during their first year at SI.
Another junior student, Alex Siegfried stated, “The underclassmen look up to the upperclassmen. So, when the seniors are gone it's just going to be them looking up to us and we don’t set a great example for fun activities at school.” A strong and welcoming impact on the lowerclassmen is crucial in order to keep up traditions and our schools reputation.
Although the pandemic has left us with long lingering effects, we still recognize how far we have come since our Freshman year. We notice the effort we have taken to renew ourselves and the steps taken to become better leaders. Mr. Escobar stated, “There is no doubt that you all have the leadership skills and capacities to progress.”
As we progress closer to our Senior year, we have high hopes that the Junior class will begin to integrate and become one class as a whole. So to all the juniors: it is not too late to step into our role as leaders of the school, and show off our wildcat spirit!
Bradley Benton ‘24 & Ella Brown ‘24 are Vol. 71 Contributing Editors