Welcome to Shawnee Mission East: home of the stuck up, the preppy, the unathletic and the drunks. There has to be more to us than that, right? The East community can’t be known for simply those four things, can it?
The unathletic part couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, East holds exactly 100 state championships. Take that, South. Our tennis, golf and swimming programs are absolute powerhouses. It seems like I can’t remember the last time girls’ tennis didn’t win state, or when both of our swim teams weren’t top three.
“Well those are just country club sports. Those don’t count,” one could say. Fine. The SME Lacrosse Team just won their third straight LAKC Championship — hardly a country club sport. Take that, Rockhurst.
Additionally, the East basketball team is becoming a threat to any team in Kansas. They got fourth in state last year, with Tuna dunking all over the competition. A state football championship seems looming on the horizon as well for the 4-0 (as of last Wednesday) Lancers. And let me remind you, this is just the first year of the Delaney Dynasty. Just imagine the East football program in two years. So I think it’s safe to conclude that East is doing just fine in that area.
Well, we’re preppy. Actually, that’s an understatement. Let me rephrase that: We’re really preppy. I don’t think there’s any getting around that one. Other schools would have to be completely blind in order to not realize our yellow pants and blazers and our outlandish dresses during homecoming on Facebook. And it’s a daily struggle for half of the school to choose between Vineyard Vines seersucker shorts and Southern Tide columbia blue shorts. It just seems to come in the job description for East. But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter what we wear to school? Probably not. So then why is it so normal to wear a J Crew button down to school every day?
The East district is located in by far the wealthiest county of the state of Kansas. So we have a relatively large amount of money as a whole. Great. So that’s out of the way.
Yet, is all of our school a part of this wealthy majority? No. So one can’t stereotype the East community as a whole when, in reality, we live the same lifestyle as any other teenage kid living in the Kansas City Area. We wake up and put our pants on one leg at a time at 7:15 in the morning just like everyone else. Then we study for tests, go to practice and go to parties just like the rest of the state of Kansas. So when you take a step back and look, it’s merely a tradition. East has dressed this way since the very beginning.
“If the rest of the school is wearing Polo and Vineyard Vines, then why wouldn’t I join in?” That’s the mindset that seems to float around the halls. It’s simply the way East operates. It’s the way we are built. Is that a bad thing? No. Is that a good thing? Maybe not, but there’s no changing it.
But whether East has money doesn’t change anything. East sure as hell isn’t stuck up. We don’t only care about ourselves as individuals. East gives back an incredible amount to our community. Our SHARE program is far-reaching, helping many in need, as well as cleaning up Kansas City. SHARE hosts birthday lunches for impoverished children, and helps with the Ronald McDonald house, just to name a few. Pack-of-Pals supplies much-needed time to those in need. And we aren’t “too cool for school.” East has more school spirit than any school I’ve seen; pep rallies, lip-dubs, packed student sections and student athletes giving everything they have for their school. I’ll never believe for a second that East is stuck up.
Now to the issue that seems the most stereotypical of East — we’re all drunks. And I’m not going to sit here and try and get around the fact that alcohol is consumed by students at East. You all know the statistics. And after fumbling and bumbling for ways to put this, I could only come up with one: It’s nobody’s fault but our own. I’ve been to parties. I’ve seen it. I’ve even been a part of it. And as a school, we know the results that come from drinking. Yet, we keep drinking. We show up to games drunk. We drink until we go to the hospital. We drink until we drop out of college. Just in the last year, East has lost two of its most beloved students to the problem. Yet, we drink on…
But needless to say, it’s slowly getting better. We’re moving past the problem — the MIP’s are drastically decreasing from years past. Whether East students are just getting smarter or not drinking as much I simply don’t know. But Shawnee Mission East, hear me out when I say that what’s happened in the past shouldn’t characterize our student body as a whole. It shouldn’t and doesn’t mean that East is a bunch of drunks, when we know that’s not true.
After being a student at East for two years, I can say that these stereotypes don’t define us. East is a family. Whether you graduated 30 years ago or last year, a common bond is shared. Whether you are a part of the theatre program or play basketball, you both share a strong appreciation for East. And we see this bond time and time again.
We see it on the field. Whether we swim, play tennis, football, basketball or lacrosse, we all play for a reason. And when we walk onto that field, we play for our peers watching. We play for the East tradition built years before us — built by those who loved their school just as much as us. We play for our teammates that we grew up with. We play knowing that we’ve wanted to be on this stage, and to represent this community and school that we’ve love our whole lives.
We see it after tragedies. After Tyler died, East came together as a family — a family that comforted each other after the loss of another beloved family member. Whether we knew him or not, #RIPTR was spread. Comfort was given to those peers in grief. And from all corners of the school, we all felt that this school was beyond ourselves. We all felt that we go to a school that we love. And we felt that we are part of a community that no matter the stereotypes, will always stick together until the very end.
We all know that stereotypes don’t define us. We are who we are. We are a team. We are a family.
May God watch over Shawnee Mission East.
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