There is a phrase at Annandale High School called Atom Pride. It is printed over all sorts of school merchandise, posters, and banners. It can be seen almost everywhere. Whether there actually is Atom Pride is more difficult to tell.

AHS held a spirit week, the week of Homecoming. Each day had a specific theme for people to dress up as: Adam Sandler, Little Ms./Mr./Mx., Brains vs Brawns, and Black Out/Senior Toga. Adam Sandler and Blak Out days were the most successful, which is to say, still little participation, but I think that is because both themes were already similar to what students normally wear. The other two days had essentially non-existent participation.

I don’t think it was the difficulty of the themes that discouraged students from participating. It isn’t hard to tape a piece of paper to your shirt and write, “Little Mr.___”, or dress up like a jock or nerd. So what’s the reason? From what I understand about spirit days at other schools, you feel like the odd one out if you don’t participate. This common reality elsewhere seems like the opposite at AHS. Another question: why?

Of course, Atom Pride is more than school spirit. The meaning is not quite straightforward. It is school morale and the way the school is viewed by students; in short, having pride in attending the school. However, there is still a correlation between school spirit and school pride, and I think that school spirit cannot be expected if there is not much pride for the school in the first place. Not a day goes by where I do not hear a fellow student say something bad about the school. Many weeks go by where I do not hear a student say something positive about the school.

The Friday before Homecoming, there was a pep rally. The whole event was so dry that by the time it ended I was still waiting for it to start. Everyone was on their phones and talking to each other. I know that because I did that too.

Again, nearly everyone has seen videos of pep rallies at other schools, so I don’t need to explain those. I’m not saying that a lack of pride (if you want to think of it that way) for the school is entirely responsible for all of this, but it is undeniably a factor.

There is clearly prejudice towards AHS. It is usually from outsiders who do not know the school. Every student is aware of it.

There is a universal experience any AHS student is familiar with. Which is when someone asks what school they attend, and the student replies with Annandale, and the opposing person makes a face and either falls silent or goes “Ohhh…”. I have experienced it myself and my sister has too, and nearly everyone I know has. (The same thing repeatedly happened when I attended Poe Middle School).

While this sort of interaction is usually prompted from students who attend other schools, I have witnessed it from adults too. AHS is known as the ghetto school, the gang school, the poor school, the bad school. AHS is always the butt of all jokes. I wonder if students have unconsciously internalized this prejudice.

Overall, I think some have. I say this at the risk of sounding pretentious, but I think that blaming low school spirit, positivity, and morale, on the whole disaffected disillusioned youth thing is a vast simplification. Students are so exposed to all of the negativity towards AHS that they forget that it is an International Baccalaureate school, in Fairfax County. Out of the 333 high schools surveyed by U.S. News and World Report, AHS was ranked 68th. (TJ was first, but that’s a given at this point).

And yet, despite the quality of the education, it is easy to go unseen also because of the little academic recognition at the school. Everyone always hears about the field hockey team’s latest win (congratulations!) or the football team’s latest loss (repeated, but a symbol of strong will). Although there is hardly anything ever about academic wins or perseverance, and even if there was, it certainly does not feel that way; which I think says enough.

So I think it is essential for students to realize that they are being influenced by what others say and what they hear when it comes to AHS. I usually ever hear bad stuff about AHS. The shooting in the nearby neighborhood at the football game last year, the stabbing at Ossian Hall park.

It is all too easy to let only that stuff form the basis of our opinion towards the school. Indeed, people who attend the school and people who don’t attend it share some of the same negative views of the school.

AHS brands itself on its diversity to the point of cliche, but it is the genuine truth that the strength of AHS lies in its cultural diversity and acceptance. However, utilizing this, a stronger sense of community needs to be built in the school. Like through more activities: there’s a reason why Heritage Night is the most successful school event, every year.

People take pride in their cultures. As a school, we must take pride in our strengths. Embracing the cultural diversity of Annandale is the way to do this.