It’s been four years since COVID-19, and the effects on my generation still show. I’m guessing most of the teachers, staff and even the other grades deserve an explanation for why we are the way we are. So here’s my take on why the sophomores are kinda insane as a whole.

I think most of my peers went through the same revelation I did during COVID-19: We are going to die one day, so why should we care? Now that sounds bad, but what I mean by it is we became overconfident because we all looked death in the face (from a safe distance) and survived. Normally confidence is a good thing, but I swear we don’t fear consequences at all.

In addition, we never got the chance to mature in middle school. We were quarantined in 6th grade and could only talk to family and close friends, and until 8th grade, we were never exposed to large social groups. That doesn’t really seem like too big of a deal, but middle school is the time when we all go through that awkward maturing phase – when we are starting to be treated a little less like children and a little more like adults. This stage is a necessary step in maturing, and we skipped it completely. So even though we look twice our age, most of us act like middle schoolers.

These two things combine to make an academic class that is one of the most rowdy grades ever. The good news is that, even though we are a mess of a generation, we are getting better — very slowly. I think more are starting to realize that the way they are acting now is cringy and rude. If you are a sophomore reading this, please consider growing up.