Written by: Tanya

Edited by: Mattie 

Graphic by: Addie

At a school where excellence is the norm, ISM has encountered a strange paradox that has taken hold of the whole school. When everyone is striving to stand out, extravagance becomes the standard. The bar across campus has skyrocketed,  creating an environment that is fiercely competitive and raising expectations for student achievement to incredible new heights. From packed club council elections to our very own Battle of the Bearcats, which has continued to be a celebrated, high-stakes event for many students, the drive to have a flawless resume in high school has increased exponentially. But as pressure and stress build, an urgent question arises: will the school’s attempts to inhibit this hyper-competitiveness and level the playing field for all students actually work?

Take Club Expo or whole-school assemblies, for example. In previous years, it was very simple for students or their clubs to know what they had to do to stand out. Give away food, do stunts at your table to grab people’s attention, or host games. Today, every club is doing the same things to stand out. That hard work just becomes noise. Winter (9) said, “There were a lot of people; some of the clubs were more engaged than others because there were things like stunts or food at their tables to persuade us. Although there were a lot of club council members pressuring others, especially freshmen, to join their club.” Club members desperately look for anything that might make them stand out, preparing things for hours, days, and weeks, only to find that their efforts are to no avail since the student population has become increasingly desensitized to the elaborate shows that clubs put on to gain popularity. 

Another clear example is BOB, as student councils spend months planning for this one day, meticulously organizing their batch to try to maximize the number of spirit points they earn. Pascal (10), treasurer for the sophomore council, said, “As a council, we met throughout the summer, spent so many weeks revising our chant, and keeping track of hundreds of people across multiple spreadsheets.” Batch councils and students spend countless hours preparing for this huge event, just so that everything runs smoothly. The idea of batch glory is enough to garner lots of students willing to spend time painting signs, creating props, and working with their batch to the point where recognition is almost guaranteed. However, because ISM is a hub for ambitious students, the excellent displays of batch spirit from each group have become expected and drown each other out. 

Looking back, freshmen may only remember how their idea for a paper-mache dragon came to life, only for it to be disallowed by the administration a week before BOB. One freshman, Madeline, stated, “I was there when they made the dragon, and they were there on the weekend and spent so much time and effort on this. I feel like it was unfair towards us, since the seniors had a spectacle as big as ours, too.” These restrictions left the Batch of 2030 heartbroken, as their work went down the drain, while the other batches faced similar setbacks when their large props were also banned. The seniors were the exception, as their large totem poles were allowed as part of the traditional senior walk-in. The hyper-competitiveness between batches at ISM only adds fuel to the fire, giving highly ambitious students another massive event to try to outdo other batches. 

In response to this growing intensity, the school administration has tried to level the playing field by limiting each student council to only three meetings to practice their chant. While setting these limits on chant practice is intended to even the odds, some students speculate whether it really fixes the problem. As long as the desire and passion to win BOB among students stays high, they will find a way to maneuver around this rule, whether by holding informal rehearsals outside of school, practicing in small groups, or shifting more of their focus onto props and signs to try to outshine the other batches.

The same dilemma is taking place in club councils. The school has tried to implement the “three council positions” rule to give students an equal chance and distribute opportunities more evenly. Eldar (10) put it simply: “It was difficult picking what council positions to take, especially because I could only take a specific amount of them and I couldn’t apply for all of the ones I wanted.” An anonymous club advisor states, “One of our club’s leaders has lots of other presidencies under their belt. Even though there have been lots of rumors within the club about this person’s ability to deliver on their commitments, they have found a way to balance everything for now.” Will this rule curb the ambition and drive of ISM students, or will high schoolers find a way around this rule for their own academic advantage?

Ultimately, traditions like Club Expo, whole-school assemblies, and BOB call for effective rules set by the administration to prevent driven students from burning out and to even the odds for all high school students. When the push to stand out among your peers becomes an overpowering expectation, a few iron-clad rules become necessary. With these rules, ISM can give more students an equal chance to shine, instead of the efforts of so many students being overlooked because the student population has become desensitized.