I walked into the lunch area and sat down at my normal table in the middle of the patio. After sitting alone for five minutes, a friend that I used to be close with called me over to sit down next to her and her group of friends (the cool kids). Not wanting to be a loner, I walked over to their table and took a seat. After sitting there for the rest of lunch and feeling like a charity case, I decided to throw away my trash and leave. On my way to the trash can, my foot got caught on my pants, and I fell right on my face with all my garbage in my hands. The group of girls who I had just been sitting with finally decided to give me a little attention and laughed as I got up and walked away from the people who I was trying to so hard to fit in with.

It would be shocking if I mentioned the East High Wildcats and someone at CCHS didn’t know I was referring to High School Musical. We all grew up loving this series; girls drooled over Troy Bolton, while boys denied to their friends and to themselves that they were secretly obsessed with this movie. High School Musical tells the story of two kids breaking the status quo and learning to branch out of their “cliques.” By the third movie in the HSM series’s the jocks are friends with the geeks- all because of the drama club. Although it would be thrilling to see our CCHS family “break the status quo,” the cliques rule our school.

In a recent survey given to the entire student body at the February Light Group, students were asked, “What is one thing you would like to change at our school to help everyone feel safe and respected?” An answer that stuck out the most to me and seems to be one of the best responses was “less cliques and be friends with more people.” Just like at East High, cliques are a problem at CCHS and we are all at fault. I too am guilty of confining to the same group of 10 people. Everyone has their own group of friends, and they are so comfortable in that small clan that they refuse to branch out.

In the survey, only 35% of the student body thought being friends with everyone would be an effective way to make everyone at our school feel safe and respected in an act to stop bullying. People tend to avoid standing up for a victim of bullying because they are fearful for their own social standing or that it’s not their business to interfere. If our school was not so divided by different cliques, I predict people would feel less uncomfortable about stepping in to help someone who they used to consider a “stranger.”

Just like any other high school, including the East High Wildcats, social cliques divide the school based off race, appearance, money, sports, academic standings, and hobbies. It’s no lie that all the cheer girls hangout together or that the whole boys water polo team tries to squeeze into one table during lunch, but I wonder how willing those two teams would be to inviting someone new into their group.

Here at CCHS we all claim that we are all a family; however, some of us still refuse to give others the time of day. We don’t treat each other as a family in Christ is supposed to treat each other. I have seen people bully others online, tease someone because of a certain hobby they are interested in, and worst of all, exclude others from being a part of their friend group.

We all say that we are willing to make this community a family, but nothing has been done about it. When we are all taken out of the school environment, for example in a retreat, we claim that we are one giant family; but, the minute we get back to school everyone gets comfortable in their own groups and forgets about that promise to be a tighter family.

We all have spent the past eight months going to school together, and although it should have happened months ago, it is time for us to stop acting like the hypocrites we are, break the status quo, and show this city how the CCHS family sticks together.