Seniors have always been top dog with freshmen below them, but do all students see it that way?

At Edwardsville High School, students participate in class color day for Red Ribbon Week,  a week in October where students and faculty pledge to be drug free.

Freshman Beau Lewis believes class color day gives freshmen a time to shine.  “Well I chose to wear all pink because I hate that people look down on freshman. Everyone was once a freshman,”  Lewis said. “I also wore my pink socks to support friends and family affected by cancer.”

Some students could see an increase in harassment on color day, like junior and EPIC member Alyya El-Khatib.

“All seniors always think they are top dog at any school and feel the need to pick on freshmen,” El-Khatib said.  “We were all freshmen once so we know what it feels like, but at the same time I don’t think there have ever been extreme cases of seniors being mean to freshmen here at EHS.”

Assistant principal Mr. Stewart does not believe that class color day has any effect on how students see each other.

“I don’t think it aids in discrimination.   It’s a good thing,” Stewart said.  “All classes have things they are notorious for and I think the day lets student show how proud they are of their classes even though they have flaws.”

El-Khatib believes that class color day is one of the only days out of the year where upperclassmen make their status known.

“There are a lot of freshmen who are friends with upperclassmen and vice versa, and I think class color day is the only day of the year to show that the upper classmen are “top dogs” besides senior night.  Other than that I think all the classes influence themselves and learn from experience,” El-Khatib said.

Mr. Stewart reasons that more seniors may be dressed in their class color than freshmen because seniors are more accustomed to Red Ribbon Week at EHS than the freshmen.

“The older the students, the more class spirit they have, and the more proud they are of their class,” Stewart said.