1. High School Cliques
I wentto one of the largestschool inthe state of West Virginia,Cabell MidlandHighSchool.We usually
had around2,200 studentsatthe beginningof eachschool year.Inmy graduatingclasswe had over400
studentswalkacrossthe stage at graduation.Withthatmanypeople itwaseasyfor manycliquesto
arise.Typicallythe jocks,beingmale orfemale,alwaysstucktogether.Whetheritbe football,baseball,
basketball orsome othersport,youalwayssaw themeatinglunchtogetherorevenspendingoutsideof
school time withone another.Youalsohad the clique of preppygirlswholikedtodoabsolutely
everythingtogether- includingaccompanyingeachothertothe bathroom. Thenyouhad the band geeks
whospentall yeartogetherbecause youhadcompetitionseasoninthe fall,youhave performancesand
showsinthe spring,and inthe summeryouhad band camp almostall daylong.Finally,we alsohadthe
clique of rednecks.Theywere probablyone of the biggest cliquesbecauseyouhave somanypeople
that live onthe ridgesandback roads of Milton,Ona,and Culloden. Mostof themalsoparticipatedin
one of the manyagricultural classes,includingthe clubFFA,whichbroughtthemevencloser.Inclasswe
had to come to a consensuswiththe opinionof all the groupsonwhatthe mostsignificantcliqueswere
withinourhighschools.Thankfully,the cliquesIhadat my highschool were the same asmostly
everyone’ssoIdidn’thave to reallycompromise.Afterwe talkedoutloudaboutthe cliquesandhowwe
saw them,Irealizedthatthe waywe saw themisthe way we are setup to see them.I’msure notevery
football playereatslunchwiththe otherfootballplayersorthat everyrednecklivesoutinthe country.
The mediaand otherfactorsare all primingusto see thingstheywantus to- placingstereotypeson
groups.