Like every year, the freshmen are feeling the heat of being the school’s newbies. Chants such as “Go Home, Freshmen” and “Time for Bed, Freshmen” exemplify the tradition of dawging on the youngest the high school has to offer.
With that being said, not every freshman commits the terrible acts that tend to describe their grade; it’s not fair to generalize all of them. However, they are freshmen, and it is tradition to complain about the youngins.
One persistent complaint from all other classes is the freshmen’s inability to walk in the hallways. Although it is important to note that, from an upperclassmen perspective, sophomores seem to struggle, too, with the abolishment of last year’s ‘conveyor belt’ system of navigating the halls.
“Please stop congregating in the middle of the hall during passing period,” junior Emily Hyde said. “Stop shouting things to your friends who are far away.”
In case the freshmen forgot how to keep it moving, sophomore Ellie Throop gave some instruction.
“If you don’t know how to walk, it’s left foot, right foot, [repeat],” she said. Take this with a grain of salt, she is a sophomore.
Public displays of affection are hated, too. Nobody appreciates having to witness a fourteen-year-old’s not-so-sneaky acts of PDA while they are just trying to make it to class. Or wander the halls. Or skip class.
Senior Emma De Mey added, “Stop standing in the hallways and kissing everywhere.”
Nevermind the hypocrisy in that sentiment; dismiss the fact that more seventeen year olds are kissing than fourteen year olds.
Upperclassmen are especially annoyed by the “Devious Licks” trend. In essence, the trend consists of students stealing things from school, like soap dispensers, an Apple Watch and, more detrimentally, toilet paper. The desire to abscond one-ply TP is astonishing. This has caused a rift between students and staff as well as consequences felt by the entire student body, such as the shut down of some of the bathrooms and tighter restrictions on leaving class.
“They’re annoying,” junior and varsity football player Jay Brehm said. “Stupid Devious Licks and stealing from the bathrooms, it’s just immature. I assume they are quiet in the student section too.” He added, “Go Home, Freshmen.”
The stealing is certainly taken personally.
“Y’all, stop stealing the toilet paper in the girls’ bathrooms. I need to wipe, too,” senior Tori Scovel said.
More than that, the majority of upperclassmen feel aggravated by the lack of spirit from the back of the student section at football games; the quietness definitely puts a damper on the atmosphere.
“You need to start actually cheering and participating in football games,” senior Madi Rempalski said. “The energy we have in the stands has a real impact on supporting our team. There is no reason why the student section should ever be quiet. Quit shoving each other around [on] the bleachers and start showing some Northview pride.”
Take the obnoxiousness from the hallways, and funnel that energy into cheering at football games.
In all actuality, despite all of the complaints, the upperclassmen do care about the wellbeing of the younger students at the high school. Many offered thoughtful and supportive advice for the class of 2025.
“Take freshman year strong, and make sure you actually try, because it does matter, and it can help your GPA [Grade Point Average] in the long run. [It will] help you out the rest of your years in high school,” advised senior Maddie Zimmerman. “Also, make yourself known, talk to people and attend events like football games or join clubs, because you’ll make some new friends.”
On a more lighthearted note, junior Braiden McNay reminded everyone that life is what you make it.
“Remember this: 99.9% of things that happened during high school don’t matter after you graduate. Don’t care what other people think, and just have fun,” he said.
Don’t care about what others think, unless it’s an upperclassman calling you annoying for standing in their way or accusing you of looting the bathrooms.
Everyone that’s not a freshman is anti-freshmen; it’s the hypocritical natural order of things. The thought process has absolutely nothing to do with the youngsters and everything to do with everyone else. Freshmen are hated because they are at the bottom of the food chain; they are fresh meat and easiest for older grades to pick on. There is no proof that exclusively freshmen are committing “Devious Licks”; they are still accused by everyone else. No matter whose fault, all frustrations from the student body are blamed on the babies of the high school.
Not that any of that matters. It is, again, tradition to hate on freshmen.
Class of ‘25 might be mad now, but by time the next school year rolls around, they’ll be ripping on and saying the same things about ‘26.
Junior Ezra Benardino sums everything up fairly eloquently.
“Stop saying ‘sussy baka’*, or I’ll bully** you,” he said.
*’Sussy baka’ is internet slang meaning silly or foolish.
**Note to readers: The Roar does not condone bullying in any way. The purpose of this article is to make a social commentary in a comedic fashion.
