The bell rings. Brunch. In the hallways, exposed to the scrutinizing glances of upperclassmen who cackle together in tight circles like hyenas, a freshman weaves through the crowd, bumping shoulders with the herds of wildebeests stampeding in and out of the narrow doors to the student center.
Her stomach rumbling, she finds her way into the cafeteria. She waits patiently for her chance to grab some food. Waits while seniors claw their way to the front of line, roaring with haughty laughter and brushing her with backpacks like trailing manes. Waits while juniors, like circling vultures, swoop down, advancing past the timid mass of bodies to peck at the remaining scraps.
The bell rings. She heads back to class, empty-handed.
Every freshman knows what this feels like, to be at the bottom of the food chain, to be out in the open in a harsh climate where their kind is not welcome.
Freshman Clara Crowley experiences this on a daily basis. She said the attitude towards freshmen from upperclassmen, even sophomores, is one of disdain.
“I wouldn’t say we get bullied, but we definitely get teased and humiliated,” Crowley said.
Junior Jenny Hosler said that the actions of upperclassmen, wittingly or not, can cause the classes below them to feel menaced.
“When an upperclassman purposefully bumps into an underclassman, ignores an underclassman, cuts them in line, or tries to express in someway that they are superior, it really intimidates everyone in the grades below them,” Hosler said.
Hosler’s own freshman experience was aided by her four older siblings. She was constantly around older kids and learned that their roar was worse than their bite. However, she sympathizes with the frightening experience of others her age that were suddenly placed in the midst of the savage wilderness that is high school.
“For others who were maybe the oldest one in their family or an only child, high school must have been frightening, having strangers towering over you in the hallways and pushing you around even though you had done nothing to them,” Hosler said.
From cutting in food service to asking freshmen to clean the field during football practice, senior Ami Felson notes a certain superior attitude that upperclassmen demonstrate on a regular basis, a feeling that they are of a higher “social status.”
Hosler explains this phenomenon as a universal power struggle rather than something unique to high schoolers.
“People struggle for power on teams, at work, in families,” Hosler said. “I would know about the last one.”
Crowley said that the upperclassmen need to calm down and that animosity toward freshmen is completely unnecessary.
“I think that all high schoolers have to go through it,” Crowley said. “It’s the high school experience, but the hate for the freshman is a little extreme.”
On the other hand, freshman Daniel Alderman feels that this is “not a big deal.”
“All I have to say to other freshmen is ‘get over it,’” Alderman said. “Nothing really bad happens.”
Senior Claire Wong said that at Piedmont the stereotypical bullying and taunting aimed at freshmen does not exist at the same level as most other schools. She said that her lack of interaction with other grades is mostly because of the classes she takes.
Felson agreed that the his lack of interaction with underclassmen is completely circumstantial.
“It’s funny to joke around how freshmen and sophomores are tiny, but in the end, they’re still cool people to talk to,” Felson said.
Wong attributes this unusual congeniality between grades to the nature of Piedmont as a small community school.
“The school has implemented a lot of things to improve school climate,” Wong said, “like Ground Crew and the respect assemblies, to name a few.”
Felson joined Ground Crew for this exact reason: he said that “seniors should establish friendly relationships with freshmen so they feel like they have all the tools and advice they need to guide themselves through high school.”
Hosler said that, in addition to Ground Crew, other programs such as Youth Educators encourage interaction between grade levels.
“Our school offers many opportunities for people to communicate, which allows for more of a community and less of a struggle for power,” Hosler said.
Hosler, like Felson, has a sense of responsibility toward the well-being of underclassmen.
“As an upperclassman, I feel obligated to interact with every grade,” Hosler said. “Especially underclassmen since it is intimidating for them to have people older than them.”
Felson said that the best thing freshmen can do to not feel intimidated by seniors is to simply brave the initial fright of being exposed in a harsh new place and to be themselves.
“I think any freshman that has enough courage to talk to a senior or some upperclassman deserves to have a nice conversation with, because it’s not easy to do that,” Felson said.
Wong said that freshmen are truthfully as mature and approachable as seniors are.
“Underclassmen are people too,” Wong said. “if we’re talking about music, or a movie, or a book series, the only difference is their opinion.”