When one thinks of the word, ‘cliques’, it’s typically the High-School-Musical-type scenes that pop into their heads. The varsity-jacket sporting jocks shoving the nerd with glasses into a locker while the popular girls giggle in a corner, ignoring the goth kid balling their fists in the back. Ew.

It’s pretty obvious that times have changed.

The students that occupy high schools nowadays are actually a lot more united that they used to be. Friend groups intermingle a lot more than before, the shared trauma of the pandemic brings students of all backgrounds together, and we’ve come to embrace our differences and celebrate diversity.

That doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that the students of today all fit into one mold. Cliques are most definitely still a thing. And while it’s not that some are better than others, they sure do encompass a wide range of characteristics in their groupings.

It’s also very apparent now more than ever that every high school is different and special in their own respective ways. So, I decided to ask people around Enochs and try to gauge what our cliques are. What kinds of students roam our halls every single day, and how could we roughly categorize most of them?

NOTE: This is NOT an opinion article. The information presented here is almost directly from the mouths of multiple students. I’m presenting what I see as common responses in my reporting. Without further ado, here are the modern-day cliques of Enochs High School, as per the students themselves.

LEADERSHIP KIDS

It didn’t take me being at Enochs for long to realize that there is a not-so-hidden force behind all our non-administrative school activities. Every day during 0th period, a particularly large group of students comprising mostly of upperclassmen meet in Mrs. Mariano’s room and, in layman’s terms, run the school. From the ice-dumping challenges during HOCO week to the morning announcements, these students are the driving power behind a lot of what other students take for granted.

That being said, these students are filled with confidence, are extremely involved, and, as a result, turn out to be extremely popular, too. They’re usually also involved in student council and/or ASB, and, to be entirely honest, embody just a little twinge of a superiority complex.

BRIDGE KIDS

If I’m being real here, I had no idea what this even meant before writing this article. All that happened was I asked a group of people, “What are some modern-day high school cliques you’ve observed from you time at Enochs?” and pretty much all of them screamed, “THE BRIDGE KIDS!”

“What?!?” I responded, to which they just widened their eyes, shook their heads warningly and slowly said, “Don’t sit on the bridge.”

I don’t even know what ‘bridge’ they were talking about. Is it the one near the stage? Or the one connecting to Sylvan outside campus? Regardless, I also had a staff member claim that they wouldn’t be surprised if one of those students quite literally hissed at them while crossing the bridge during lunch.

My inference is that the bridge kids are a group of creepy, antisocial people who find comfort in convening on a bridge at Enochs High school. Not exactly a clique, but it seemed important to bring up.

FOOTBALL PLAYERS (ISH)

Modern-day jocks aren’t what they used to be. They’re not too stuck-up about their athletic ability, some are even introverted (crazy, I know), and they’re not too irritating to be around. However, that doesn’t stop them from enjoying around the same level of popularity that playing football gets you. You’ve seen the Enochs team practically strutting around campus on Fridays with their balloon-looking uniforms. Someone had to say it.

I lump the rest of the jocks into this category, too. These people are pretty tolerable until their season rolls around, if you catch my drift. In short, they’re a super classic clique, and one that has changed in its dynamics, but definitely isn’t leaving anytime soon.

THE NERDS

When I say, ‘nerds’, I actually don’t mean academically inclined. In fact, these nerds tend to exist in lower-level classes, just because its relatively easier to excel there. More on the higher-level courses next.

These kids are the kind to push their glasses up with the tip of their finger and send spit flying everywhere when they say, “Um, actually,” and launch into a ramble of scientific terms. My experience with these people is, if you listen close enough, past the nasally voice, you see that what they’re saying is sometimes not all that complicated and mostly incorrect, making it extremely satisfying when you correct them and watch their feigned confidence shatter.

The teacher’s pets, these are the kind of kids people talk to as a joke, does that make sense? They’re pretty rare, and don’t really convene in groups, but they’re prominent nonetheless.

AP KIDS

Now these guys are smart. Academic weapons, if you will. That does, however, come with a cost. Around second semester, it is common to see these kids sobbing into their desks, constantly sighing and regretting every AP course they’ve taken, and repeatedly searching up things like, “Can I still get into an Ivy League with a B?”

Something a little vexing about these students is how they never. shut. up. about. school. It’s always, “What did you get on ___?”, “Wait, did we have homework for ___?”, or “Are you ready for the test in ___?” School is essentially their life, but it pays off, because these students also tend to be the most well-rounded. They’re involved in numerous extracurriculars, hold officer positions in a lot of the academic clubs at Enochs, and pursue multiple passions outside of school to help with their applications.

They’re super polite, are friendly to practically everyone in their classes, and as someone who interacts with them daily, they’re like a whole family. The collective struggles in every class they share bring them closer together.

BAND KIDS

I love band kids. They’re just the silliest. It’s also incredible to me how good everyone is at their instrument. Enochs’ band in particular is one of the best ever. They win tournament after tournament, and pour their blood, sweat, and tears into every song they prepare.

But what divides these kids from just students with a hobby into their own separate clique is how band sometimes…consumes them, to put it frankly. These kids are never available to do anything. From band council to playing tests, you can’t pull a band kid away even for just a lunch period. Their weekends are usually taken up with tournaments and marching band games, which is why it’s so important that we as a school appreciate their efforts as much as possible.

THE STONER KIDS

Don’t even try to gasp and clamp your hand over your mouth. There’s no ignoring the fact that, despite all the effective efforts by administration, these kids still exist some way or another. They rarely interact with anyone other than each other, have personal issues that lead them to substance abuse, and end up not getting very far in high school. They struggle academically and have little to no true passions.

As you can see, living like this doesn’t sound very appealing, which is why it pains me to even have to include this clique. Don’t do drugs, kids.

ANIME KIDS

So, these kids. I’m internally wringing my hands because I want to portray them as accurately as possible, but I’m also trying not to offend anyone because THESE KIDS ARE WIDESPREAD! I’ve seen people I’d never expect to have seen a single anime in their life recommend 10 shows to me in one sitting. It’s more of a closeted interest, but is more out in the open now that we have an Anime Club. I wonder how that’s going…

These kids’ wardrobes probably majorly consist of merchandise from animes they’ve watched, their profile photo is their favorite manga character, and they overall terrify me. Sorry if that hurts.

FRESHMAN-TYPE KIDS

I don’t mean freshmen. Well, actually, they could be freshmen. Or they could just be extremely annoying. These are the kind of people that have boundless, unrelenting, kind of very much infuriating energy that follows them wherever they go.

They make it seem like they hate high school, joking about how they want to get out of there as soon as possible, but you honestly just know they’re going to peak sometime in their high school career.

You might find yourself thinking if the freshman-type kids ever shut up. News flash, they don’t.

They’re not all that annoying though. When approached correctly, they actually make great conservationists. They’re hilarious, teachers either love them or hate them, and, while they don’t realize it, they shape a high school’s personality. I guess we should keep them.

FLOATERS

If I had three words to describe this clique, it would honestly be, “most of us”. Chances are you’ve been reading the above cliques and you realize that there’s none you honestly fit into perfectly. While that may be because I’ve overexaggerated most of their descriptions for comedic effect, it’s also because nowadays, the only thing that separates us are our friend groups.

And the thing is, you’ve got cliques within friend groups. The athlete, smart kid, responsible friend,…the irresponsible friend, all exist inside of the group of people one hangs out with. What I’m trying to get at here is that, at this point, floaters are the norm.

They don’t fit into a category, don’t have super strong interests, and are just trying to get through high school one day at a time.