Dear Freshman: We forgive you for being a Freshman

Dear Freshman,
I would first off like to let you know, that even if you think you get it, and we don’t notice you, you’re wrong. I don’t mean to sound rude; I am simply telling the truth. However, I would like to let you know that it is ok if you stand out, because eventually, you’ll figure it all out.
I’m sure you all know by now that Freshman are somewhat looked down upon at Fremd High School (actually all high schools for that matter). Why, you might ask? “We’re just the same as everyone else!” you might protest. But, unfortunately you’re not, and here’s why:

1.What you look like: Half of you are going to wear pretty much the exact same thing on your first day of school. Girls, you will wear a low-cut shirt from Hollister or Abercrombie, accompanied by a tight, short jean skirt, along with a pair of flip-flops that correspond perfectly with your top. You girls will also be sporting one of the five cloth Hollister bags that the store is selling right now. Your hair will be straightened and down. Finally, you will either load on what seems like pounds of makeup, or wear no makeup at all because you are not allowed to. Boys will most likely wear khaki shorts or jeans, along with a t-shirt from Hollister or Abercrombie. You will all be looking your best, but at the same time looking exactly the same. Also, we will notice your height. Even though I am a short junior, you are still shorter(Take a look at yourself right now, am i right?).

2.Your behavior: Even if you think we can’t hear you, we can, and we wish we couldn’t. We all hear your piercing, blaring, shrill screams that you make when you see a friend of yours in the hallway. We stop for fear that this noise is a fire alarm, we look around, and then realize this noise is actually coming from a human mouth. Quite frankly, we’d rather jump off the top of Fremd High School than hear that scream again, but unfortunately we’re going to hear it at least six more times during the day. Also, we notice that all of you travel in packs like wolves. When we see six short girls with short Hollister jean skirts and low cut Hollister tops walking to the lunch line together, we know that you are all Freshmen. Although traveling in packs is a good strategy for safety, we see the pack and we know who you are. We also notice your maps, panicked faces, fake gymnastics hugs, obnoxious laughs, and wide eyes. We notice your excitement, and since we aren’t excited anymore, we become annoyed. Eventually you will lose your excitement, and you’ll see where we’re coming from. The biggest thing we spot though is your egos. Your egos, like the sears tower, are so monumental and huge that they are hard to miss. Many of you think you are soooo incredibly cool because you are big highschoolers, and I hate to break it to you, but you’re not. You're not one of us until you’ve survived a year. Although you dress in all black for the football games, go to the dances, and are in some sophomore classes we still know you are not one of us big kids.

Right now, you might be protesting that you have only a few of the characteristics above, and therefore you don’t seem like a freshman. However, in psychology class, us big juniors and seniors are learning about social cognition, which is the mental process of categorizing people into groups on the basis of their shared characteristics. You all share most of the characteristics listed above. Even if all those behaviors or actions don’t apply to you, even having just a few of them puts you in the freshman group. In psychology we also learned the out-group homogeneity effect, which is when all people in the out group (in this case, the out group is freshman) appear to look and behave the same. I hate to break it to you, but you freshman are the out group, and you all seem the same to us.

This sounds rather depressing now, and right now you freshman reading this might think I hate you. Fortunately, I don’t hate you guys. Shockingly, I actually am jealous of, and admire some of you. The reason for this is because you are still so excited. I love how naïve you all are. To you homecoming is the best thing in the world, athletic meets are soo thrilling, football games are a blast, relationships aren’t complicated, passing periods are always social hour, gym is actually for exercising, and lunch is only for eating, gossiping, and flirting, NEVER studying. Fremd is a new, exciting world for you, as it should be. Some of you try to act or dress in certain ways because the new world is scary, and you just want to fit in. I want to let you know that that is perfectly ok because we were all there once too. Even though we might think we’re all different, and so much better, two or three years ago we were exactly the same as you.

So here’s what I’m trying to tell you: Don’t worry about being a freshman. Although we might seem annoyed with you 99% of the time, we all did it too. Believe it or not, we were all freshman once, and we all survived and turned out okay. The cycle of Frehsmanism repeats every year, and there’s nothing anyone can do to prevent it. So, although I could do without your screams and colossal egos, feel free to walk around in packs with your maps, get excited about school activities, wear your Hollister outfits, and act naïve. You should realize that its okay to act like a freshman now, because you only get to do it once, and you’ll miss it when it’s gone.