We just had the Pep Rally and all the athletes were recognized, but doesn’t that leave the students excelling in academics in the shadows? Events like the pep rally could leave some with the impression that our school values athletics over academics, but what does our student body think about academics? Should academics get more recognition?

Tucker Willinberg, who has excelled in the academic field but hasn’t been recognized, doesn’t think so. He suggested that academics was more private than athletics and doesn’t feel as if it needs to be a bigger deal: “So, I think its a lot harder to be recognized in the academic stuff because you’ve got plenty different courses and beyond that, the grades and that stuff are taken to be a lot more private than how you did on your cross country run. That stuff is meant to be public. I think academics is getting recognized enough because I don’t think it should be as much.”

Tucker brings up some good points, but football player Aidan Leek confirms our theory that at Green Level, athletes get a lot of attention.  Leek says, “Kids get more noticed when they get like touchdowns and do better at sports rather than being the smartest in the class.”

But, think about it: Not everyone is athletic, and not everyone is artistic. If academics is what a student strives in, shouldn’t we make more of an effort to recognize them for being intellectual?

Do you know the names of the presidents of our academic clubs? I’m sure you don’t because they never get recognized. But, the quarterback of the football team? Yep, a name comes to mind.  We need to make students who thrive in academics feel valued and get recognized for their hard work. Isn’t it only fair because we do that for sports? Let’s make Green Level a school that values academics and the arts just as much as athletics. All students deserve the recognition they deserve regardless of what field they strive in.