It’s Friday night and you enter the bleachers. The crowd surrounds you as you and your friends try to find a place to stand. There are no spots. Looking around, you notice students, decked out in facepaint, taking pictures, cheering, and laughing with each other. Others are scrolling on their phones, looking bored. How can we make sure everyone enjoys being a part of Stevenson’s community? Who defines it?
Stevenson prides itself about its community. At the beginning of the school year, there are hundreds of club opportunities: Homecoming (HOCO) spirit week, football games, the actual HOCO, streetfest, and countless other events. Statesman notices an emphasis on giving opportunities for connection, making new friends, and having fun. However with nearly 4,900 students at Stevenson, Statesman wonders if it is possible for everyone to enjoy and participate in every event.
With the huge variety of clubs that Stevenson offers, Statesman notices a trend of micro-biomes forming, many different groups of people evolving from clubs that specialize in their interests. With a school as big as Stevenson, it is easy to fall into the cracks and for students to become unconnected. Whereas with a unified community, students have a shared sense of purpose, and are able to create collective growth, where they work together and help one another.
Statesman believes that the size of Stevenson has an effect on how students are challenged daily. We are told to attend every event, show school spirit, and be the best of the best. The never-ending pressure that stems from Stevenson is prominent compared to other schools.
In smaller schools, Statesman notices that students have a higher sense of community. Research from the 2022 Challenge Success survey found that smaller schools outperform larger schools in almost all areas of support and belonging. Creating meaningful connections strengthens the safety and bond one feels within the school.
The connections in Stevenson stem from Peer Tutors program, which allows students to head to the Informational Learning Center (ILC), and get help from their fellow peers in a particular subject. Additionally, outside of school, many students are seen studying together at the Vernon Area Public Library. Statesman notices that a sense of community forms because of the academic achievement that most students desperately want. In general, we notice that students are the ones forming bonds, creating connections and setting the tone of the school, not staff.
Statesman argues that although academic pressure creates a sense of community to students, it only compounds the competitiveness culture at Stevenson,which ultimately takes a toll on students.
Furthermore, academic pressure is more prevalent in places with higher competitiveness like Stevenson. According to the National Library of Medicine, there is a drastic increase in the number of students applying to selective colleges. Applicants to colleges increased by approximately 600k in the span of 12 years. The more applicants applying, the harder it is to get into certain colleges because of the increased competition.
Additionally, Evanston’s school newspaper expresses that students think that if they don’t take a certain number of AP classes they would fail to get into certain colleges. This pressure also takes place in Stevenson as there is a cultural norm of taking large amounts of AP classes.
Stevenson provides many advanced placement classes, for example, Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH). Throughout the halls one often hears, “why am I taking APUSH? It’s so much work.” Why take a class that causes so much distress? AP classes are like a domino effect: one friend is taking it so “I have to take it or I’ll look dumb.” In Stevenson, when one takes Advanced Placement Language and Composition , you aren’t able to submit another English credit, but people still take Advanced Placement Literature and Composition in their senior year.
School events still try to get everyone to come together even with the many tests and homework load. Unfortunately, even in events that stress community cohesion, Statesman notices that students tend to not even enjoy these events and rather, stick to their personal groups. Take Streetfest as an example: National Honor Society (NHS) members have to attend, and one always hears, “I have to go to streetfest, I think I’ll leave early though” Comments like this establishes a forced attendance, further discouraging other students from having any desire to come. It makes us wonder, are students attending community events willingly, or is it forced? Stevenson has over 4900 students, so, in one way or another there will always be a decent amount of students at these events, whether that be because of the clubs they are in or because of the Freshman Mentor Programs (FMP) and staff’s persuasion.
To initiate change, Statesman believes that focusing on getting student leaders, such as students at football games hyping up the crowd, and the FMPS being there for Freshman Orientation Day because they want to, not because they have to be there, is most effective. It leads to the freshman and sophomores generally looking up and respecting the upperclassmen, wanting to have a role like them as leaders in the future. We believe it brings a genuine desire for attending events and cultivating future leaders too.
As student leaders are participating in events actively, from the outside, it may seem that the teachers are the ones setting the tone of students in the school. They help establish bonds between students, give students a common-ground, and often try to spread school spirit. However, this doesn’t necessarily create a school wide community. While the attempt is appreciated, many classes still have students that are dead silent and don’t participate or listen to the teachers. In Stevenson students are the ones who create communities through the engagement in clubs, social gatherings, and overall connections with peers.
The student population must unite. Now is the time to step up in action. We must create a campus where students are united, sharing ideas and respect for all. Too often, students overlook the effort put into school events, staying in a small circle rather than expanding to the whole. Statesmen believe we should cultivate a common ground where all students are accepting of one another, because a true community is not found in isolated communities but rather unity.