By: Nitil Raj
A casual Friday for the sophomores dressing up in Biotech
You may have noticed in the hallways, there is something going on with the sophomore grade. Surely, you have seen it—30 something students dressed up in wacky outfits. A huge chunk of the sophomores have started to dress up on random days of importance to them. Essentially, they have just started their own shenanigans. To the rest of the school, they look ridiculous, yet they dress up willingly. The mystery behind it has piqued the interest of many. Surely, you are wondering the obvious question, “Why?”
The origin story of these fashionable episodes dates back not to the beginning of this school year, but all the way back to a certain March in 2020: the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. Everyone’s life instantly changed at that moment. Social events such as parties, dances, and most regrettably graduation had just disappeared. Then came freshman year for the class of 2024. Everyone was learning virtually, friendships were scarce and hard to come by, and each day staring at the computer blended drearily into the next. Being virtual, the freshman class lacked social events and opportunities to get to know one other. Yet somehow, despite the monotony and drab nature of a virtual freshman year, the sophomore grade slowly grew stronger bonds together. Their consensus was that with only 3 more years of highschool to enjoy, they wanted to spend as much time as possible having fun.
Starting in sophomore year, they followed that mantra and had the resolve to do something unique at school. When asked about the origin of the events, one of the founders of this movement, 10th grader Patrick Xia said, "I was inspired by other schools' spirit days and how they were more over the top than the ones our school had. Since I felt no one participated in the ones our school had and they were very generic, I took the liberty to plan some more interesting activities." This sentiment was spread amongst his friends and kickstarted the first event they held together.
The most memorable shenanigan was definitely the first one held: Hawaiian Shirt Day on October 1st. It took almost a week of planning to decide on what to wear. They decided on Hawaiian shirts because of a (now infamous) long email chain regarding a possible “Formal Friday” for Biotech students. In the replies, somebody specifically said to not come to school on Friday wearing a floral shirt. Obviously, they had to come into school wearing floral shirts. Those without Hawaiian shirts were provided shirts by other generous participants. Overall, it showcased how closely knit the sophomore grade is. During lunch, they continued the merriment with games of cup pong and plenty of pictures. . Hawaiian Shirt Day was the beginning of more themed days to come, making it the most memorable one of them all.
But, just a week later, it was the sophomore class council election: the day of our second dress-up. Many students who participated in Hawaiian Shirt Day were running. To show support for each other, they all wore suits combined with athletic shorts, a hilarious clash between formal and casual. Soon after that, on October 19th, they came into school with different types of jerseys to celebrate the opening night of the NBA. As you can tell, these sophomores are showing off their sophomore spirit.
Needless to say, these shenanigans won’t be the last, and I hope everyone can laugh and enjoy what we are doing just as much as we do.
-Some pictures from Hawaiian Shirt Day- Source: Harshveer Parmar
-Some pictures from election day- Source: Joshua Greenburg