What the popular crowd says, goes

Five years ago, at my high school graduation, I was voted by my 450+ classmates as "most popular". Looking back, I was never the snobby, stereotypical popular high school kid. I hung out with people from all groups: the jocks, the "nerds", the preps, etc. In turn, many of my classmates were inspired by my hard work, positive outlook on life and my grades, and tried to shape their lives to be "just like me". Many of my friends would walk with me down the hall and say, "Wow, you can't even go 2 minutes without someone saying 'hi!' to you.". 

So, naturally, when I became a teacher, I was able to easily identify the cliques at my school, and which kids were considered the "populars" and which kids get bullied on.  I felt able to have a natural connection with each one of these cliques as I observed lunchroom and classroom behavior.

The group of "populars" are split between guys and girls - each gender having about six or seven true members. In the past, some of the popular kids have been the school's best students: the boys were sports stars and stars in the classrooms; the girls introduced the most sweeping fashion changes and inspired the other girls to work hard in class. However, the popular crowd for both boys and girls is highly organized into the "Mean Girls" fashion - with definite leaders, people who look up to/kiss up to/do whatever the populars want, and some people who openly defy them. The popular students definitely have a say in what goes on in terms of drama, gossip and other teenager things at school... and generally they always get their way.

To join this group of students, is, without a doubt, difficult. Being in the popular clique is highly selective... and rejection can be publically humiliating and degrading. I've had two students who tried to join but were rejected. Clearly the social atmosphere of middle school is a lot harder than I remembered...

After talking to some of the populars, I've tried to help them use their popularity to improve the social strands of school - by reducing bullying, making the social scene more open to others, accepting diversity and different people and avoiding hurtful gossip. Hopefully my efforts will work, but, I do know that if the "populars" are on board with this new plan, the entire school will be in a split second.