As a rookie in the NFL, you are the one not only with the biggest pressure to “do something” early on in your career, but also the one who probably has to pay a $400,000 dinner bill for your teammates. Rookies are ridiculed.
That’s how things go for them. The same sentiment can be said for freshman at CG – not only are they pushed to start off strong grade-wise (even with “easy” classes), but they can only use their free hours in a bare room in the EE basement – where homework is their only escape.
So, when a rookie suddenly doesn’t have any naysayers, or when that $400,000 dinner bill is covered by a coach – things don’t seem correct. When freshmen (with passing grades) are allowed in commons and/or the collaboration space with the rest of the student body, some people are bound to not be happy.
“That’s just a rite of passage that [freshmen] have to earn throughout their time at Cary-Grove,” senior Jeremiah Benford said. “Everybody had to go through (study hall), it’s a tradition.”
“I thought it was a privilege,” senior Gina Hurtado said. “Apparently, it’s not.”
Freshmen aren’t eligible for commons if they have failing grades, so it is still a privilege, but not one reserved for upperclassmen as it was before. Beyond concerns about tradition, other upperclassmen argue that the change negatively impacts their own experience in commons.
“It used to be so peaceful here,” junior Mason Rebscher said. “Now it’s so loud.”
Senior Akira Jimenez agreed that the change makes it harder to get work done during commons.
“I feel bad because I want peace in the commons room,” Jimenez said. She also mentioned she felt CG students should start off their high school life with the right mindset before they join the ruckus that commons can be.
“Freshmen, they need to know ‘the study moment,’” she said.
On the other hand, when NFL rookies end up doing well, people will praise them. When freshmen have passing grades, they should be rewarded, right?
“It’s a little treat,” sophomore Phenton Fitch said.
“It’s a reward to the freshmen who actually do well in their classes,” Faith Glasson, another sophomore, said. Notably, two additional CG underclassmen cited the benefits of being in the Commons area with their peers.
“Commons is a lot better because I’m with my friends,” freshman Aaron Milewski said.
“I think it’s very fun,” sophomore Colin Doughtery said. “I have a lot of freshman friends.”
“You get to socialize,” said senior Alexei Schnurr, an upperclassman who is all right with the change.
If you’re keeping score at home, we have five “yays” vs. four “nays”. Let me be the one to make this difficult and say I’m more “neutral” on the policy.
As a freshman myself who did well in my classes (A’s and B’s), it would have been cool to hang out more with other students at the school and get to know them beyond the mundane. However, the study hall room in first semester for freshmen is a “get right” mode, where they want to begin high school with momentum – on the way up, of course.
That’s what the room was for me, whether I knew it or not. As a senior, I will be right back to where current freshmen are, this time as I start college. I know earning things is in my DNA, and I would imagine that will be seen much more with CG freshmen as the next few years take shape, especially with a commons opportunity second semester.