I love pep assemblies. I like shortened periods, sitting with my friends, and watching my classmates being recognized or performing. What I didn’t like was the utter lack of respect shown at last Friday’s assembly. It was disgusting and it made me ashamed to call myself a Wolf.
Okay, fine, there were sound issues with the microphones.  Does that give the senior and junior classes the right to be so loud that it drowns out everything said on the gym floor? When principal Kaine Osburn announced the NWN’s very own Gabby Abesamis for her nationally recognized article, I couldn’t hear a thing. Yes, of course clap like crazy for her, but when your principal speaks, give him respect.
More importantly, when he is discussing a national tragedy, the Newtown shootings, just shut up. That people were speaking during this part of the assembly appalls me. Kindergartners and first graders lost their lives. They’ll never know a high school pep assembly. Could people not just keep their mouths quiet?
Let’s not forget the disrespect shown towards West alumnus and World Series Champion George Kontos. We probably left him with a negative impression of the current West student body. There was no reason to still be talking while he was addressing everyone.
Next, the “spirit” shown by the classes of 2013 and 2014 was unsafe and downright obnoxious. Stop screaming ’13 and ’14 at one another, we all get it. I’m not saying to ban this tradition, but it gets old, and it should definitely not be done during videos, performances, or if anyone is speaking. Then, people decided to crowd surf. You have got to be kidding me. We aren’t at a concert. It’s distracting everyone from the assembly. It’s rude. And it’s dangerous. The administration doesn’t want us to do that sort of thing, not because they’re mean or boring, but because it’s a safety issue. The crowd surfer could fall on top of people, or somehow injure himself or those around him. Let’s be mature and not do that for the spring assembly, and let’s not applaud those who get sent down to the dean’s for being disruptive.
Lastly, why bring toilet paper, silly string, and glitter? It’s rude to throw that stuff at people. No one wants silly string in their hair. The main issue is that it’s not fair for Student Government to clean the messes up. Think what you want about the organization, but they do work hard to put on these assemblies. Show them common courtesy and leave all that stuff at home, because we all know you won’t be the one to clean it up.
Overall, the school spirit shown at assemblies is getting out of hand. Come on, seniors. Be the leaders of the school. Set good examples for the sophomores and freshmen. At least half of the class is legal adults; it’s time to act like it. I hope that when the spring assembly rolls around, it will be treated with the respect it deserves.
Anonymous • Dec 21, 2012 at 8:23 PM
The thing is, not everyone is always looking at the center of the gym. A lot of people are talking to their friends while they’re waiting for the assembly to start, and without working microphones it would have been a lot easier for them to not notice. Yes, the talking was disrespectful and should be condoned, but I don’t think you should suggest that the entire student body was doing it on purpose. From what I saw, people at the Holiday Assembly today behaved just fine, which is why I think the microphones were the issue. Perhaps Mr. Osburn/Kontos should have waited for the entire gym to quiet down before they decided to start talking. With all the teachers around in the crowds, this shouldn’t have been too hard.
In addition, I understand why crowd surfing shouldn’t be allowed, and how great of a safety risk it can pose to others. But the people who were crowd surfing did it out of appreciation for the Rock & Roll Club’s performance. It was not meant to be disrespectful in the least, despite that the people who participated in it weren’t thinking of the possible consequences beforehand.
As far as I know, messes – in general, not just with toilet paper/silly string/etc – have been a part of every pep assembly, not just this one. There really isn’t much you can do to prevent that. It’s not like teachers are going to stop anyone who leaves something laying around on the floor. Truth is, there are some really obnoxious student behaviors that you just won’t be able to change. I sure didn’t appreciate it when people drew penises on our club’s bullying posters during Human Rights Week.
Also, I sure hope you aren’t suggesting that the school should stop holding pep assemblies on the basis that some people can’t behave. I, myself, didn’t even know about the noise and the crowd surfing until after reading this article. I didn’t say a single word during the assembly. Many people were respectful, too. Are you saying that pep assemblies should be taken away from us because of what OTHER people did? Punish the people that do wrong things, NOT everyone.
Mara Shapiro • Dec 22, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Do they really need to wait? And Osburn did repeatedly try to quiet the students down. Actually, disrespect was shown towards Rock and Roll club. I don’t exactly remember what Merrill Miller was saying to the crowd, but when he asked everyone to perform some sort of action(maybe to clap?), members of the junior class made thumbs down signs. And I don’t know what age you are, but at the senior class photo, there was crowd surfing, quite possibly by the same people, so I do think it was for attention. If it was to show appreciation, students should have realized it would just take the attention away from the club and cause trouble. As for the messes, members of student government, repeatedly tell students via social media sites to NOT bring glitter and silly string. If they ask us not to, the people who put on these assemblies, why ignore them? And my article DOES NOT say to cancel the assemblies. In fact, my first sentence is “I love pep assemblies.” I truly do. You will notice in one of the comments that a member of government said that government was/is discussing what happened at the assembly. So am I saying to cancel them? No. But if we don’t behave, maybe certain privileges will be eliminated. I don’t know. While you personally didn’t notice the noise and crowd surfing, many other people did, including the administration.
Anonymous • Dec 25, 2012 at 2:18 AM
If the microphones weren’t working, then yes, they should have waited. The lack of attention was not wholly the fault of the student body, but also due to technical issues, as I noted. I did not deny that disrespect was shown to the Rock & Roll Club (seeing as you didn’t mention the thumbs downing in your article). I only denied that the actual act of crowd surfing was meant to be disrespectful, even though it is definitely a safety hazard. It’s something that is commonplace at rock concerts and I cannot see how one could argue that it is disrespectful to the bands/musicians, especially since some of them actually ride on their own crowds. You can’t say that you’re going to be able to contact every single student via social media sites, can you? I am not trying to justify the use of silly string/glitter in the assembly. I know it is wrong. What I am saying is that students will choose not to listen and there’s nothing you can do to turn that around, and that it is (unfortunately) something that Student Government will always have to put up with. The last part of my comment was directed at what you said in one of your other responses: “…if you honestly feel that the student body cannot behave themselves for a few hours in the gym, then maybe we shouldn’t have assemblies.” Even though I personally did not notice any of the disrespect until I read this article, I am not denying that it happened. I am denying the claim that the student body was rude and obnoxious as a whole, because there were people like me who actually didn’t do any of those things in your article and should not be punished for that.
Mara Shapiro • Dec 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
I’m not saying that everyone should be punished though. I’m not saying anyone should be punished at all. This article was meant to open the eyes of the students at Niles West. I wasn’t misbehaving at the pep assembly either, and I know not everyone was being obnoxious. However, many people were. Yes, there were technical difficulties, but we all know that we’re supposed to be quiet when an authority figure is speaking. It’s from middle school days. As for the crowd surfing, the bottom line is it is dangerous. It’s not going to be funny when someone is bleeding at the bottom of the stand is it? Or if someone kicks someone in the face or mouth? I’m not trying to forcibly fix the behavior of students, just trying to get them to see that their idea of fun and games isn’t always appropriate or safe. And the person’s comment whom I responded to was saying that if I was going to act “that way” then they should be cancelled. So therefore, my impression from that comment was that if students aren’t allowed to do what they want, then the should be canceled, and I was therefore agreeing. We can’t disobey authority and hope that they will just look the other way. They really did notice, and once again, that comment from the Student Government member confirmed it. I think it’s a safe bet to say that the administration did discuss the behavior after the assembly.
I don’t want the assemblies to be canceled. My article didn’t say “assemblies must be canceled” and I’m not saying that now. I’m not saying to punish you at all, keep behaving respectfully. I just want other students to try to behave the same way..
SwagDaddy • Dec 20, 2012 at 9:24 AM
I’d just like taaaa say… that someone went CROWDSURFING on top of ME & their Gluteus Maximus was all up in MAH FACE & lemme just say that it did not SMELL nice!!! ………………………Thanks for writing this article, M- DAWG. much love. xoxo
John • Dec 19, 2012 at 5:29 PM
THANK YOU. I was saying a lot of the same stuff as you at the Homecoming assembly, and it made me ashamed to be a senior. I actually felt people were a little better behaved this time than then, but it was worse given the actual pep assembly events. I’m just really sick of people using pep assemblies as an excuse to be obnoxious when half of these kids don’t have school spirit the rest of the year anyway. People make up blatant lies to get away with it, too – when I questioned why everyone was being so cryptic the day before last year’s pep assembly I was insulted repeatedly but more importantly, told multiple times it was our “last pep assembly as seniors”. Haha!
School spirit should be about celebration, not competition, but it seems the only times kids at this school give a crap about the hard work the teachers and student government put in is when they can use it as an excuse to break rules and misbehave. Then they’ll go right back to talking about how much they hate the teachers and the school.
Member of Government • Dec 17, 2012 at 7:32 PM
Thank you, Mara. Unfortunately, the some people commenting don’t seem to realize that if they can’t just be quiet, they won’t get the privileges that they have. ASSEMBLIES ARE PRIVILEGES. If the students can’t calm down, THEY’LL LOSE THAT PRIVILEGE. We talked about this in Government today. Sure. I get it. You have class pride. You can scream ’13 or ’14 or whatever number you want, but if an adult is talking, you shouldn’t be. I understand that there were microphone problems, but the majority, if not all, of the students can see. Also, crowd surfing? Really? What’s the point of that? Why would someone even do that on bleachers? If that person goes down, a lot of students will go down. Lastly, 6 and 7 year old children died, but our students can’t be quiet for 5 seconds. That’s just sad. Little kids who convinced their mom to let them wear their new dress to school or had their birthday 3 days earlier. That’s not some idea I just conjured up. It was on the news. I know the students probably don’t have sibling that age, but you probably know a child that young. I don’t think you’d be hooting or hollering if you knew them. Have a little respect to that loss of innocence. I hope Niles West can pull its act together, so we can continue to have assemblies.
Maridsa Choute • Dec 17, 2012 at 6:08 PM
First off, the names aren’t necessary. I mean this article raises points about us being immature yet you are here to defend yourselves, but you’re doing it in an immature matter.
Second, I agree with Mara. Pep assemblies used to be so much fun. They were my favorite, but in this last year, they’re not so much fun. I’ll tell you why. Everyone gets so hyped being the loudest class and what not. And it’s no longer about spirit. It’s honestly about pride and being arrogant. Yes, as a senior, I understand the desire to be the loudest class. But I you really thing about it, what does being the loudest class get you? Bragging rights? That’s ridiculous. Pep assemblies aren’t fun anymore because everyone takes it to an unnecessary extreme. No, you don’t need glitter, toilet paper, and silly string to prove to the whole school that you’re the best. What you need is respect, class, and awareness for others. I think that if anyone was forced to clean up the bleachers after one assembly, then they wouldn’t like it at all, and they would complain about how people don’t care and are too crazy.
And with the crowd surfing. Seriously, how mature are some people? I didn’t get it. It was so dumb. It’s great that you want to support Rock & Roll Club, but seriously, a great way to support them was to watch politely and cheer for them.
Also, I completely understand that the microphones weren’t working well. I struggled to hear Mr. Osburne talk. But if you see him standing on the gym floor with a microphone then why would you continue to talk over him? Why wasn’t the talking ceased so everyone could at least try to understand him? Nothing about pep assemblies make sense to me anymore! It’s honestly a dumb competition of which class can be more obnoxious. And if you really think some of the conduct at this past pep assembly was school spirit, then please, please take a second to define school spirit for me.
None of Your Business • Dec 17, 2012 at 4:13 PM
The assemblies are going to be wild whether someone likes it or not.
Anonymous • Dec 17, 2012 at 2:08 PM
I think the seniors were very obnoxious. I was hit on the back of the head with those clapper things during the assembly. It is also just not the seniors. It is also the freshmen. The freshmen behind me were talking the whole time. Niles West students are very horrible people. We have respect. Maybe we should have a required class on respect. Thank you! GROW UP!
Rebecca Yun • Dec 17, 2012 at 3:17 PM
People, come on now.
As a senior, I think it was absolutely rude that my classmates and the juniors were being so obnoxious during the assembly. While I stood looking at the American flag stone-faced and respectful, people were talking behind me and totally ignoring the fact that there was a moment of silence for the 20 CHILDREN THAT LOST THEIR LIVES at Sandy Hook. Innocent children were brutally killed and my classmates couldn’t even shut up for twenty seconds to pay their respects to the lives that were lost. I think it’s especially hypocritical that the senior class wants to “stay classy” yet many people were disruptful and acting very ‘unclassy’. I find it humorous that the same people writing about how, “It’s such a tragedy that those children in Connecticut were killed,” were the same people acting barbarically during the moment of silence. Obviously if you actually cared about mourning those who had died, you would have been quiet during the moment of silence, but that’s just my observation.
What kind of example are we setting for the freshmen? Obviously they think it’s perfectly acceptable to talk during a moment of silence, now that we have done so. Honestly, at this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if I came back to Niles West in five years only to find that the seniors are equally, if not more, disrespectfully raucous than we were last Friday. It’s appalling that we had people crowdsurfing to garner attention, and it’s idiotic stuff like that that further proves to me how our respect for others is drastically diminishing. Instead of feeling proud to be a senior, I feel disgusted, because my classmates chose to be insolent during an assembly to recognize the accomplishments of others and felt it was more important to toss rolls of toilet paper and be unrefined than to act like civilized human beings.
But hey, if you don’t want to have any more assemblies, go ahead and keep on acting like a bunch of whiny sleep-deprived three year-olds. It’s not like I’ll be here next year to worry about your foolishness.
Dylan • Dec 20, 2012 at 7:43 AM
Are you kidding me? Freshman and Sophomores didn’t really do too much, (sophomore here) sure we all talked but most of us were quit for the moment of silence and then when we were talking we were talking quietly and most of the time about the assembly, why do you grow up and learn to word your comments a bit more respectfully
Concerned Student • Dec 17, 2012 at 12:02 PM
With all due respect, the microphones were not working before the moment of silence and most of us didn’t know about the tragedy that had taken place.
Mara Shapiro • Dec 17, 2012 at 4:03 PM
I understand that the microphones were not working. That was a shame. However, it shouldn’t matter if Osburn was discussing a national tragedy or what he had for lunch that day. He is the principal and we all should’ve silenced ourselves much sooner than we did. This is something that we have been conditioned to do since we were little kids. Thank you for your comment. It is appreciated.
anonymous • Dec 17, 2012 at 10:02 AM
ok debbie downer, if thats how you want the pep assembly to be then it might as well be cancelled. The students go to have fun with their peers and if the school is going to take away the fun of a pep assembly niles west will have empty pep assmeblies
Mara Shapiro • Dec 17, 2012 at 4:08 PM
First off, let’s refrain from calling each other names on here. I believe my article discussed lack of respect and immaturity. Secondly, if you honestly feel that the student body cannot behave themselves for a few hours in the gym, then maybe we shouldn’t have assemblies. I fear that it won’t be because students won’t attend the assemblies that they will be cancelled, but rather the administration will cancel them because they feel that we cannot handle ourselves appropriately.
Debbie Downer • Dec 18, 2012 at 9:09 AM
I agree it’s the administrations fault for locking up the students in school with police like authority and rather have the students locked up bored like crazy.
Lyba Zia • Dec 19, 2012 at 12:47 AM
Hey! There is a fine line between “fun” and “disrespect.” I’m part of Government and all that, but it has never stopped me from getting up from my seat and yelling “Thirteen” with my class. However, if I am more concerned with yelling a number across the gym while a student is being honored or a professional athlete is taking time to visit his high school, I would be disgusted with myself. There is a time to yell things and show class spirit. Mara is just trying to tell us that we need to have better timing.
Mara Shapiro • Dec 19, 2012 at 9:24 AM
Thank you, Lyba. I’m not saying that we should sit in stony silence and do nothing. I think that the spirit during the Homecoming assembly was a great demonstration of school spirit. I just feel that our winter assembly was inappropriate in that we cheered when other people were trying to be heard.
Lyba Zia • Dec 20, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Rioting and disrespecting is bad. You can’t stop an editor from writing the truth.