I remember being in K4 and looking down at the seniors who carried me on their shoulders thinking, “this will be me in fourteen years.” Going through primary, elementary, and middle school, I realized that I changed, the people around me changed, but the concept of seniors always stayed the same. They were still the royalty of the school and had more fun than a kid in Disneyland. It makes sense they should enjoy their last year in school, especially in a school like ours. It lets us create the greatest memories a high school student could get, surrounded by childhood friends. One of the most important things this school has and holds on to is tradition. “Educating the mind... honorary tradition.” What I keep trying to understand yet don’t seem to get is why the school is so big on honoring tradition, yet keeps trying to change everything that is valuable to the students.

Throughout the past few years, school has changed a lot. Academically, the math department has improved in ways that now makes the students know basic skills, and actually learn what they’re supposed to at the age they need to. Future generations: don’t worry about getting a one on your basic skills in a Pre-AP Pre-Calculus class. Unlike me, you’ll be prepared for it. Math levels were added so that people that want to excel, can. There’s more homework, less time between classes, and the rules are now enforced strongly. The positive changes deserve their accreditation.

Even though things are improving, there’s still a long way to go. Sadly, we are losing tradition. First piece of evidence: the K4 student ringing the bell at the end of the first all school assembly. That’s gone. Everyone talks about innovation, how we are in the twenty first century and need to implement it. If that means spending thousands of dollars on technology and ignoring all of the other school needs, the administration is doing a great job. Students don’t really care about how the money is spent. When something that every student waits their entire life to be because of the privileges it comes with, like being a senior, and they start taking them away, upset and disappointed faces start to appear. What this school doesn’t realize is that sometimes old is best, and that traditions should be valued and not left behind.

If senior activities had never happened in the first place, there would be no problem. But they do, and generation after generation sees this. If parents wanted their kids to be academically perfect, they would all have enrolled their children in Los Nogales. It’s a school in Bogota with an hour and a half more of class where everything revolves around educational matters. School is taking precautions, but too seriously. One of the things that make everyone envy this school so much is not only because of the academic and our perfect English. Apart from the previous things said, we have the best time in school and make senior year (and our high school years) the best they can be. We all part different ways when we graduate, and we want memories that will always connect us and bring us back together.

If there is something that all students look forward to their entire life and doesn’t affect the academic part of school in any way, why should it be removed? Halloween, a holiday where you come to school and do nothing, is ruined because of “safety reasons”. If you tell teenagers how to behave, and what is expected of them, the chances are high that they will probably do it. If something else happens, it’s called an accident. Uncontrollable things that happen all the time and people move on. If it’s not an accident there’s this thing called code of conduct, full of consequences for those special students that break it.

Last year, the 2014 seniors had a little revolt. They made the amphitheater a water/whatever you could think of that made a mess fight. It made every high school student laugh. I remember a dinner at my house where my parents invited some friends over (who had a child in that generation), and talked about the incident. “If they had let them do it in the first place, no rules would have been broken, and the kids wouldn’t had taken it to the extreme of bringing chickens,” my mom’s friend pointed out. The more you threaten a group, the more they will want to break rules and question the authority.

So I guess my opinion about change simply depends on the situation, and what it is that they are changing. We all want our school to be the best at everything, and keep improving so that we as individuals can be outstanding and find our way through life. There are different ways of modifying issues, and sometimes things look better left in the same place. I love my school, and know that I’m not the only one who feels this way. We students are what make up the school, and the traditions that we built up every year should be honored too.