HCCPHS is known for its familial feeling and revered for how connected the students are with peers and teachers alike. However, many people feel there is a deep divide between the different grade levels.

    Mrs. Jones, the AP art teacher, has two different multi-level classes and has seen the divide too, stating that the different grades tend to stick together. She is concerned about the seemingly concrete separation and is trying to get the grade levels to connect more than before.

    Jones is planning assignments that will help students get out of their comfort zone and collaborate with people outside their ordinary group. Hopefully, these interactions encourage collaboration that will push the connection further. However, the AP Studio Art curriculum does not leave much room for leisure, and Jones feels this attempt may not be enough.

    Before these attempts by Jones and other teachers’ team-building activities, students were connected by clubs or a rare surface-level friendship.

   “As teachers, can we facilitate [multi-grade level interactions]? Yes,” Mrs. Fey said. “Can we force a relationship that is too difficult to create if you’ve got a very resistant student? You can’t force that.”

    In the end, it is up to the students to foster that family feeling. 

   “Even though I have classes with [students in other grades], I feel more interaction with the juniors and the ones that are my age,” junior Garret Domm said. 

     Even with interlevel classes, the connection will not grow because the students are unwilling to collaborate with students in other grades.

    “It’s not anyone’s fault the school is dividing but our own, and we should put more effort into blurring the division,” sophomore Thomas Trevino said. 

    The number of classes the grades have together may not have anything to do with the divide, but more so the attitudes and efforts students put into making connections with each other. 

    As our school grows, it’s becoming harder to connect. The students have yet to make the necessary changes to our practices to accommodate new students. Every person should take a more active role in the inclusion of others, as faculty and administrators alone cannot create the family feeling we strive for on this campus.