SC itself has always been superior to NC. Improved infrastructure, convenient parking, nearby stores and restaurants, and, best of all, quality phone service. 

However, I strongly believe the experience and atmosphere at NC is significantly better than what the freshman and sophomores at SC endure. 

Freshman and sophomore year is never easy for most. People usually assume it’s because you’re a newcomer and you’re still finding your place, but this is only a fraction of the truth. The truth is that SC students are some of the most toxic, cynical, attention-seeking people known to man. And you wonder why nobody over the age of 16 likes being in the same room as you little narcissists? 

All you do is judge and hate each other throughout the school year. It’s like a warzone; you guys need approval from your peers so badly that you bring others down to make yourself feel better because you think it makes you look better. I mean, let’s be honest here, you guys hate each other because you hate yourselves. You all want to be somebody you’re not, so here’s a tip: don’t be such a bummer. Maybe try not hating each other for a minute and make freshman and sophomore year a little bit easier for yourselves. 

It may surprise some of the freshmen and sophomores reading this, but sometimes, being a genuinely kind human being isn’t embarrassing! The mindset of most SC students is that feeling empathy or remorse is weird or dumb. Feeling these emotions would ultimately force them to face reality, which is that your actions weren’t very nice and most likely had a negative effect on a person. So instead, they just ignore them or play the victim. But having these feelings is what makes you human; you’re supposed to feel guilt if what you’re doing isn’t right. So break the pattern! Be better, try treating people with the smallest bit of respect, and maybe, just maybe, anyone who’s older than 16 will actually enjoy your presence. 

Now look, it’s not like everyone is always nice to each other at NC. We juniors and seniors were once you guys too; everyone was! We all went through the same stage of insecurity and embarrassment, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t change. Everyone makes fun of everyone; I do it, you do it, everyone does it because it’s funny, it’s human, and we love it. The only difference is that, after the joke is over, we still treat them like human beings. 

When making a joke about someone, your goal should be to make everybody laugh, including them. I feel you freshman and sophomores take it too far. Part of being funny is reading the room. Making fun of someone should be a temporary act; don’t be that one person who keeps dragging on a person forever. One, because it shows your inability to create original humorous jokes, but more importantly, because it can really hurt that person even if they aren’t showing it. 

My point being, nobody’s perfect. Everyone slips up here and there. But if you’ve made your entire high school persona into a mean girl character, trust me, people will get sick of it. And if you choose to continue doing this throughout your life, people will call you out for your bogusness. I’m not saying that you can never make jokes again or never be judgmental because we all do these things, consciously and subconsciously, but it never hurts to just try and be nicer. That’s the thing about NC: if you’re literally incapable of being empathetic, you can just say nothing. After sophomore year, most students just stop caring about what others think and mind their own business. 

Therefore, making my point that the NC experience is just better than SC. We have an ability that you freshman and sophomores have yet to learn, which is just to relax. Stop worrying so much about what others think and stop being so negative, and maybe you’ll actually enjoy your time in high school.