Becoming a Bruin for a day
West Fargo and Fargo South are known for their rivalry in sports. However, they have more similarities than differences away from the athletic arena and in the classroom.
November 5, 2008 • written by Meagan McDougall, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Filed under Feature
Every year, West Fargo and Fargo South uphold an ongoing rivalry, whether in sports, co-curricular activities or everyday life. The winning side shifts year to year, but the intense feelings prevail. I crossed enemy lines to explore the inner workings of this powerful rival and experience South’s perception of West Fargo.
At 7:45 a.m., I walked into South and was greeted by a surprisingly decongested hallway, despite the fact that South is more populated than West Fargo. In the office, the friendly administrative assistants made jokes about the harsh rivalry and they would have me converted to a Bruin by the end of the day. I donned my bright yellow visitor’s pass and wound my way through the web of hallways to my first class, Humanities.
Before the class could even begin, I subconsciously pulled out a bottle of water from my purse to take a drink. I was halted by a “classmate” who burst out laughing that the water was in fact “Packer Power” water. So began the light teasing about my school association.
Humanities in itself was a unique class. From what I could understand, the course is meant to apply social customs and fads from different time periods to what events were taking place at that time. That day in particular, they were examining the style of painting from two different time periods and why they were popular.
When the bell rang, I left the room and found myself in a jungle of activity. I thought the hallways at West Fargo were full and frustrating, but it’s nothing in comparison to the intersections inside South.
West Fargo is fortunate enough to have hallways that make circles and don’t cross, but at South, not only do they have to somehow storm through extreme traffic jams and get to class in four minutes, but they also carry backpacks. So, while navigating, one must also play defense and protect against being thrusted to and fro by book-laden backpacks.
My next class was considered third period because of the district’s rare use of an early class, similar to West Fargo’s “early bird.” They get their announcements for the day because they lack homeroom. Rather than being printed out and read off monotonously by the teacher, students from each club take turns reading them and are televised to each classroom.
The classrooms were more colorfully decorated than at West Fargo rooms. While many teachers adorn their walls with posters and sayings, the classrooms at South, specifically the Advanced Placement Physics room, are painted with emblems of the class or heavily adorned with items directly related to the teacher or the class being taught.
Cooking class was next and it was quite a treat. We spent about 10 minutes constructing “pizza bread,” 20 minutes talking and 15 minutes eating the bread, which was delicious. However, despite this sounding like a slack class, the teacher informed me that nearly every student at South takes a cooking class at some point before they graduate. I could see why. Not only was it a fun class to take, but from what I could gather, one learns easy skills about cooking that everyone should know.
French was slightly more difficult. Being in fourth year Spanish myself, I couldn’t understand a word being said, but the laughter and glances in my direction made me suspect they were West Fargo cracks, which a “classmate” soon confirmed. However, I enjoyed the fast-paced and entertaining class.
First, we cut out clogs to signify how French children take off their shoes and put them outside to be filled with goodies around the holidays. In addition to writing my name on my shoes, I wrote “West Fargo Rocks” and “Go Packers” as well. This spawned another lighthearted debate about the two schools, ending in me being allowed to tape mine to the wall, but it had to be next to something Bruin-colored.
Orchestra, another class which was difficult for me to participate in, was next on the agenda. Since they were in preparation for a concert, I sat quietly amidst the large crew and observed the relationships between students.
Oddly enough, South seemed more ominous than West Fargo. While West Fargo is a large school, students know most people in their class and many in the grades above and below them. However, when I’d ask someone about their fellow classmate, many pointed out that they had either never heard of them or knew their first name at most, even if the people were in the same grade.
West Fargo and Fargo South are not different based on the people. The learning style and atmosphere differ because of what I believe is the student body size. Despite the fact that victories over South will always be a little sweeter than any others, at least we can stray from hating each other outside of competition
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