high school deception

From “High School Musical” to “Euphoria,” it’s safe to say that there’s an unreasonable amount of stereotypes and stigma surrounding the high school experience. There are so many aspects that play into different forms of media, ranging from drugs and sex to the unrealistic expectation to find the love of your life in high school. With an overwhelming amount of prejudices surrounding the truth about high school, real high school students are constantly underwhelmed by the seemingly mundane reality of their high school years.

“When they portray [high school] on TV, they’re just trying to do it for shock value or sex appeal or something like that,” said Rachel Brennan (12).

But in real life, almost everything shown on screens is different.

“High school is different for almost everyone,” said Indigo Jones (12). “There are so many different interesting stories that can be told through a high school setting.”

So, what about Regina George? Where does Troy Bolton fit in?

In reality, “everyone in high school is pretty concerned about themselves”, said Julia Zemmelman (11). “People are envious of who they wanna be,” and high schoolers couldn’t care less about moving out of Regina George’s way in the crowded hallways or fangirling over Troy Bolton’s cute hair. “I feel like there’s different social aspects and ideas of popularity [in high school movies], where like, really that’s not the case,” Zemmelman said.

When the first season of Euphoria was released, a new portrayal of high school was added to the stereotypes: drug abuse, mental health, sex, and abusive relationships. It’s hard to get a real look into how these things truly play into the daily high school experience.

Still, Sven Vezmar (9) said that “some of it was very much true… some people in [Euphoria] are really depressed, and that aspect of high school is definitely true.” It can be argued whether or not Euphoria’s depiction of high school is slightly more realistic, but either way, “in [the] movies, they only show people who are happy, but [Euphoria is] much more diverse.”

Despite all this, there are mixed opinions on whether or not the media’s portrayal of high school should be changed.

“Social media and movies, they just make fun spins off of it, so I don’t think it needs to be too realistic,” said Stella Laird (11). There’s not much that desperately needs to change, but “I feel like there needs to be just more diversity,” said Zemmelman.

The final takeaway?

“[The] way that you express yourself through your clothes or physically how you look is any way as acceptable the way that you are socially, the way that you prioritize your work, or anything…there’s no one way that you have to go about high school to be successful, or to be valued in other people’s eyes,” said Brennan.

“You just gotta experience it,” said Jones.

In the history of the NFL only 362 people have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. This summer, the first player from Fairview High School joined them. His name? Don Bosco Anthony “Tony” Boselli Jr. Tony Boselli was born on April 17, 1972 in Modesto, California. His accomplishments now include being a member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame. He went to college at the University of Southern California and eventually became the greatest player ever for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Despite everything that he has done in his life, it may have been his time playing football at Fairview High School and his head coach, Sam Pagano, that were the most influential.

Early Life:

As a kid, Boselli has said that he was “showered with love” by everyone around him. Boselli pointed to this affection playing an integral role in becoming one of the greatest players of all time: “Without the influence of family during my early years, my life of football isn’t happening,” said Boselli. Boselli’s football career began at the age of six when he began playing Little American Football. As he grew up in Colorado his big dream was to play for his home team, the Denver Broncos. What’s more is that the eventual 6’ 7”, 322 lb athlete wanted to be their quarterback (the average