High School Cliques

Jessica Hasper
Adams
ENG 110 CRN 23399
27 March 2014
High School Cliques When I was little, I always looked forward to High School. Then when I got there, it hit me that it’s not all it’s talked up to be. High school is probably one of the most confusing place, and time, a child goes through. They’re trying to find out where they belong. Cliques have been around ever since my grandparents were in high school. The most common one would find are the jocks, preps, and the nerds. High schools are full of different people, and it’s your job to figure out where you fit in at. Jocks are usually the “cool” kids, and known by almost everybody in the school. They’re usually the kids that wear varsity jackets around the school. The typical stereotype of a jock is good at sports, dumb in school. If you look at the image on the left, this is six characters from the popular TV show, Friday Night Lights. Number 6 and his girlfriend fit the perfect jock-cheerleader stereotype. My friend Alex overcomes that stereotype. He has been playing football, basketball, and baseball ever since he was a little kid. He played on varsity all throughout high school and fit into that “jock” slot. He was determined to prove to people that he’s not the typical jock by always staying in the top 3% of his class. He managed to achieve a 33 on his ACT, and he is now enrolled at the University of Michigan, his major is Pre-Med/movement science, he’s also doing a Neuromonitoring program as well. What would jocks be without their preps? Preps are usually the girls that wear nothing but brand name clothes such as Buckle, with their $200 jeans and $100 shoes. Preps are usually very popular and have lots of friends, achieve in school, and have the perfect boyfriend. You know the girl in the movies? The popular cheerleader who seems to have the perfect life? It basically is like that in real life. In the picture to the left, you see Blaire Waldorf, and Serena Vanderwoodsen, two girls that are in the TV show Gossip Girl. They are the perfect definition of a prep. They attend a private all girls school in the upper east side of Manhattan. They shop at the high end stores such as Chanel, Bergdorf’s, Bloomingdale’s, anything that has $500 shoes, they’re there. A girl who I was close with in middle school, Hayley, used to be that weird little girl, then in high school she became a cheerleader, just like me, but she went in with preps. All she cared about was her mom getting her the most expensive clothes, then $50 naked palette, and having the hottest boyfriend in the school. She never expanded outside of her comfort and tried to make new friends. Unfortunately, that’s how preps are nowadays. The next type of clique are the nerds. These are usually the most compassionate people, who still of lots of friends just like the preps do. But unlike them, they are not popular. They don’t care about name brand clothes, or looking good for school, or more importantly, what other people in the school think of them. A lot of them are interested in getting into really good schools, because they are very smart. For example, a girl at my school, Rachel, could be classified as a nerd. She is very academically successful, and she doesn’t care whether she is wearing the right clothes, or dating the right boy. Nerds are probably the best people to be friends with because they are almost always super nice, and they genuinely care about helping you, not only helping you if it benefits them. In conclusion, High schools are full of different people, and they all have a different purupose of going to school. Whether it’s to be popular and see their friends, or to get into an Ivy League school. Everybody cares about different things in high school, and some don’t care at all.