Walking down the hallways during passing period, nutrition, or lunch, it is absolutely inevitable to come across people completely unknown to you. As they approach closer, do you say hello? Give a small smirk? Or completely ignore their presence?

“When I walk through the hallway, I am always overwhelmed with the amount of new people that I see. I always think to myself ‘Who in the world are these people? Do they even go here?’” said, senior, Tina Tagliaferri.

As the stereotype goes, high school creates these cliques that summarize what kind of person someone is. Whether it be the “ideal” jock or the quirky AP kid, students are becoming too dependent on judging others purely by the clique they belong to or the outside of their appearance.

Society has taught today’s youth that the way someone looks, dresses, or socializes automatically categorizes students as part of a pre-established social stereotype. It has taught the youth that in order to be “cool” one must have certain clothing, listen to specific music, and participate in exclusive events. As Sheyda Mesgarzadeh says, “I mostly see students wear the same clothes from the same store; it is like they feel obligated to buy certain ‘in’ clothing.” Although it is hard to break this heinous habit, students should not become dependent upon such conformity and should not judge others purely by the way they look or by their clique.

Instead of ignoring your peers down the hallway, try to make an effort to break society’s cruel imagined rule. There are students who sit by themselves at lunch, students who have never crossed the campus, and students who are so isolated in their own “perfect” world. Imagine if people made an effort to say ‘hello’ to strangers once in a while. Imagine feeling equal to your school peers. Imagine not feeling awkward accidentally bumping into the athlete star or not feeling down-graded when asking an AP student for help in math. It is a shame that students are becoming isolated from other students just because they feel that it is socially unacceptable to explore different environments, ones outside of their comfort zone.

I am not saying that we should join in a circle and hold hands while singing “Kumbayah”; however, I do feel that reaching out to new people should be encouraged and promoted more. We are spending too much of our valuable time judging, hating, or envying others by their presence when in reality, we should be dissecting their true character instead.

Every student on this campus has a unique story, is facing a challenge, succeeding towards each students’ goal. Your story deserves to be heard, but it comes to the question, are you willing?