In early March, the Class of 2013 held a t-shirt contest, resulting in two winning designs. The first design had a slogan that stated “We do it like a 13oss,” and the second one had the slogan “We’re just 13oss,” with the number thirteen being used in both as a substitute for the letter “B.”

Days after submitting the design to the administration for approval, as class president, I was summoned to the office to speak about the designs. Although the administration declined to make an official comment, in my capacity as sophomore class president, I was told, and I quote, “Your class, unfortunately, drew the short end of the straw.” Because AHS has had a troubled history with the gang MS-13, I was told that we could not use the number, as classes around the nation are able to do. This includes putting it in words, slogans, and other forms of class spirit.

However, the controversy lies more so in the fact that from that moment on, not only was it banned from t-shirts, but from the future of the Class of 2013. In other words the rising juniors will not be able to decorate the smoke stack, C-Train, or senior courtyard with a slogan including “13” just as the “rebe11ious” seniors of 2011 were able to do this year, or the “sen10rs” of 2010 were able to do last year. In fact, most of the slogans of the Class of 2013 contain the number “13,” such as “13east,” “F13rce,” and “Bel13ve.”

Since that fateful day, I have had to regurgitate to confused sophomores the reasons that the administration made this decision. Explaining something that I don’t believe in is extremely challenging, but it is something I’ve had to do for scores of sophomores.

Before I begin articulating the many things wrong with this decision, it is important to remember a few important things.

First, this decision was made by the administration, not by one sole administrator, official or adult. Often, when hearing the news for the first time, I find my peers flabbergasted, followed by an involuntary reaction of demanding who the architect of this decision was. To those people I explain that just like with other decisions made within the administration, this decision was made in a meeting of multiple administrators, not in the office of an individual person.

Secondly, the history of AHS was an important factor. This reason was slightly more understandable, but still not agreeable. Among many wonderful achievements, one thing that Principal John Ponton was able to accomplish in recent history was marginalizing the gang problems that once riddled AHS. The benefits of the eradication of such problems has its obvious benefits. Unfortunately for AHS students, one “down-side” of this ordeal is the increased paranoria of the administration over situations such as this.

This result was not reached by wishful thinking, but by strict policies and decisions, some more controversial than others. However, I refuse to let this decision be among those made in years past to stop gang violence. As you will be able to read later, one of the arguments against using such slogans was the result of a substantial concern by the administration over gangs. Finally, remind yourself that the administration tries to make decisions based on the school’s best interests. Sometimes those beliefs can be wrong.

As aforementioned, a desire to avoid any gang-related problems was, or so I was told by the administration, the main proponent for the banning of “13” from the slogan of the Class of 2013.

It is because of the above statement that so many AHS students find this new policy unfair. While this policy might have made sense four years ago, I believe that to allow the Class of 2013 to use “13” in its slogans will turn a new chapter in the chronology of AHS.

To affirm this decision is to tell the roughly 700 members of the sophomore class, who, on a majority basis, can be assumed to not be affiliated with gangs, that their attempt to enjoy their time at AHS is second to the concerns of a diminishing minority of Annandale culture that is “long gone.”

In a more concise statement, by not reversing this decision, the gangs have won this battle. It is simply not fair to those students who partake in productive activities that benefit the community. Therefore, I respectfully ask the administration to rethink their decision about this controversial topic.