EVERYONE has been a freshman once. Freshman have notoriously been picked on by the upperclassmen, despite the fact that everyone has been new once before. During homecoming week, a sign in the senior hall was decorated with a sign that read, “Seniors eat Freshmen.”

“Freshmen are trainees,” Ivan Mena (12) said, because he believes they are just now learning how to fit into a high school setting. “Most of them are pretty stupid, like, when they play loud music in the halls and are very loud. Also, they have no respect at all for anyone, not themselves, not others, not even the teachers.” He believes that the freshmen aren’t treated harshly enough. “They can be pretty cocky at times,” he said.

While Mena dismisses them as a class, he might be willing to make exceptions here and there. “They aren’t mature enough for high school,” he said. Even so, he would consider being friends with a freshman, just as long as he or she weren’t annoying or anything of that nature. “But it’s hard to find one that isn’t annoying…they all are just so full of themselves; it’s crazy,” he said.

Teachers also have strong opinions about the freshmen. Ms. Atkin, a science teacher, has taught at Granger for more than 15 years. She started in the old building and moved to the new one.

Ms. Atkin believes that no matter who the lower class is, that’s who will be picked on. “Before the freshmen came over it was the sophomores that everyone picked on,” she said.  “The freshmen have their own hall, they are isolated from everyone else, and that’s keeping them from mixing in with everyone else. I mean, they do come over to another hall for their science classes, but that’s about it,” she said.

“When the freshmen transferred over to Granger High, it was a big concern for the parents because you really don’t want your freshman daughter hanging out with a senior boy. There was a huge controversy about this. Freshmen really have an unfair advantage that they are in their own little hall, that keeps them from socializing,” Ms. Atkin said. “I believe that’s the main reason why the freshmen are picked on.”

When Ashley Tamez (11) hears the word ‘freshmen’ the first word she thinks of is ‘annoying.’ “Most of the time they are annoying. You can rarely find ones that are mature enough for high school. I think it’s a good thing that they are in high school because they can be around older and more mature people, so hopefully that’ll help them be more mature and not act like little kids in junior high,” she said.

“I really feel that they could learn quicker and find more and better friends here,” Tamez said. She said that she doesn’t stereotype freshmen because she can’t tell who is a freshman and who isn’t. “Another thing,” she said, “I heard that people have been saying that freshmen should not be able to go to homecoming. They deserve to go. If the seniors and everyone else gets to go, they do, too.”

If everyone gives Freshmen more of a chance, they’ll be able to grow more. If everyone just keeps using stereotypes towards them, they’ll start believing it as an expectation to be annoying and stupid. Maybe it is not their fault that they act like this, but the stereotypes that shape them.