Hollywood illustrates the classic high school experience

Keely Valdez, Assistant Editor

There’s always that one bad high school drama that reverberates in everyone’s minds that depicts the stereotypical cliques whenever they see, hear, or think of high school. This is far from the truth. In this day and age, students are becoming less shy and more sociable to anyone. They are becoming less afraid of interaction whether it be in person or online.

In our generation, there are no set guidelines as to what groups students should try to fit into on the first day of school. Kids are taught and are learning to include others and to expand their horizons. Kids today are almost making the word ‘clique’, non-existent. Diversity is becoming the future whether people like it or not.

The diversity in the school is increasing with every school year. The smiling new faces in the hallways, the terror in their eyes as they try to find ‘their’ group that they fit into, the cheerfulness and hopefulness on their face, the all around excitement then they find their perfect match of group. The group is somewhat shy but welcomes the new guy/girl into the band of people. There might be that period of awkward “Hi, how are ya?” or a topic regarding weather and/or sports but that quickly fades when comfort sets in.

The first day of school is the perfect example of this ‘sleuthing’ of the perfect group. Sophomores, juniors, seniors all alike scramble to find their friends in their classes. When they have none in their classes, they rely on the old-fashioned method of “You come up to me first.” The game continues until the teacher of the class assigns seats.

Sophomore (and a Chiron), Camryn Olson said, “I, honestly, did not know where I would fit in. I had butterflies in my stomach but I feel like I’ve gotten to know more people. I feel like I’m not awkward anymore.”

Teachers are becoming a helpful resource when it comes to getting rid of cliques. They want students to try to squeeze out of their comfort zones and get an extraordinary high school experience. They want the best for us and while doing so, they’re teaching us useful skills for our adult life.

Stereotypical groups are all around according to filmmakers. The most stereotyped group being the cheerleaders.Traditionally, the cheerleaders are the ruthless bullies of the school but that’s obviously not true in this case. Cheerleaders are normal people like we are. They go to classes, eat, sleep, and even stress over that paper due in that one class like we do. The one thing that keeps them from being with the normal crowd of people is the fact of, they’re are the ones who try to maintain pep and happiness in our everyday lives. They’re at assemblies trying to make the student body proud of what they are and who they represent. They aren’t the soul-sucking, mean, vicious persons we think we know them as.

Junior, Maddy Pahl said, “We’re just like everybody else. We’ve got a girl who can throw knives and another girl who can ride horses so there’s a variety of things we do.”

The next group on the list are the “Nerds/Geeks.” In every high school movie/show, there’s bound to be that one group sitting in a circle, trading some sort of playing card in hopes that one day the victory will be theirs. In this school, there’s no such group but the imagination takes off on its own. This group has been broken up into other categories such as fandom fanatics, anime enthusiasts, or ‘outcasts’. It no longer takes the shape or name of the “nerd herd.”  The basic terminology is a group of people who have come together because of their ‘different traits or interests’ and that, is the perfect base of friendship.

Joseph Glad, a junior, said, “We’re a small group but we have a lot in common.”

The one group of girls in a giant circle talking about the latest gossip in or around the school, the ‘Gossip Girls’ are entering into non-existence. Most girls and sometimes boys gossip nowadays and it’s becoming the norm of all social life. It is not staying with the female population anymore. This group is quickly disintegrating and spreading into both gender populous. The plague of these people will eventually become no more seeing as though people are getting frustrated and wanting nothing to do with it all together.

Sophomore, Jazmin Avelar, said, “Well in Hollywood, they would think that the people I hang out with are the outcasts but in my perspective, they are just themselves, that we all have differences and that’s what makes us better friends.”

Cliques are almost becoming a thing of the past. Bullying is kept away, people are integrating and forming new groups, and students are expanding their comfort zones. High school is the time to make a change and join different groups regardless. This is the time to make the best of these three years. The movies aren’t even close when they try to depict a high school setting. Hollywood just doesn’t get it.