We shouldn’t take ETHS’ unique nature for granted.

Thanks to movies like Mean Girls and American Pie, media representations of American high schools leave eighth graders wary of the future. However, after four years at ETHS, it is apparent to us that our high school shatters these stereotypes.

Everyone hears frightening rumors of pranks being pulled on freshman by rowdy groups of upperclassmen. However, thanks to sports teams and other school groups, the grade levels intermingle routinely.

We are extremely lucky that ETHS is so diverse. Movies and TV shows set the expectation that schools have distinct and strict cliques composed predominantly of Caucasian students such as the plastics from Mean Girls (which incidentally takes place in a fictional version of ETHS). At the real ETHS, coexistence and acceptance flourish, giving us experience interacting with racially, religiously, culturally, and sexually diverse groups of students. We have prominent working clubs and organizations that promote interracial equality, LGBTQ awareness, and other ways to better our understanding of one another. Our diversity breaks expectations of TV high schools, and it is one of the many reasons that we should be proud to call ourselves Wildkits.

While ETHS is unique in many ways, we aren’t indistinguishable from other schools. Like other North Shore schools, we have our sports teams, our dances, our academics, and our social scene. What ETHS offers, however, is a high school experience that excels in every way. ETHS, according to The Washington Post, is an academically challenging school that places in the top two to three percent in the nation. Not only does our school offer what most other North Shore schools do, but also promotes a rich and challenging experience that promotes growth and personal development.

We are lucky to call ETHS our high school. We do everything that other schools around us do, but we do it better. Our diverse and competitive students and staff make us proud to call ETHS home.