By Audrey Baily and Meredith Boyd
<[email protected]>, <[email protected]>

Freshman Katelyn Nordhoff said she is not intimidated by upperclassmen. She has friends that are juniors and seniors and said she loves her Greyhound Kick-off Mentors (GKOMS). If a senior gives a freshman a hard time she said she feels like it is hardly ever out of spite.

“I feel like it’s more of a joke than (the upperclassmen) actually being mean,” she said.

On the other hand, senior Scott Pison said he’s going to get involved in Homecoming competitions. He plans on putting together a tricycle team and entering his truck in the car decorating competition. Despite how involved Pison plans to be, he said he is not doing these events to necessarily “beat” the freshmen. “It’s cool for seniors to be able to go crazy (competing), and it also shows the younger kids (freshmen) what they have to look forward to,” he said. But, it wasn’t always like this for freshmen and upperclassmen to be so at ease around each other.

According to GKOM head sponsor Jennifer Powell, this school takes many of the right steps in bringing the classes together. Programs including the GKOM program, peer tutoring and Hound Pound are a part of improving upperclassman-freshman relationships.

She said, “(The GKOM program) really has helped bridge the gap because now juniors and seniors have freshmen that they’re kind-of responsible of to take under their wing.”

And in fact, she said actual competition during Homecoming does not reverse the efforts made by organizations at this school but actually helps unify the classes.

“Obviously healthy class competition is good. It helps promote healthy class camaraderie,” she said.

Like Pison, Nordhoff also said she plans on joining in on the Homecoming competition by doing the 5k walk/run with her friends. She too said she is not so much interested in beating the seniors as being involved. This is an instance where friendly competition can be beneficial to the community. The 5K walk/run along with penny wars and playhouse building all unify the classes to raise money for charity.

Jim Inskeep, athletics director and sponsor of Hound Pound, said, “Competition is good for charity.”

While as a whole, competition between classes seems to be minimal if not beneficial according to Powell some strain may still exist. Powell said, “I think tension can be seen internally rather than externally.” In other words friction between classes is seen mainly on a case-by-case basis but not as a whole.

Still, according to Inskeep this school’s main goal is to be unified. “(Class hostility) doesn’t fit the vision of Carmel High School ,” he said.

For the most part Powell said students of different grades get along pretty well. “At the base level I feel like everyone knows we’re one big school,” Powell said.

Hound Pound promotes spirit among different grades

Sophomore Jillian Shelly said she originally became interested in Hound Pound due to the realization that her sport, volleyball, got little attention compared to other activities at this school.

“I decided to join Hound Pound because I wanted to support the athletics that don’t normally get support, like volleyball,” Shelly said.

Hound Pound is an organization that allows students of all grades and genders to cheer for this school’s athletics, clubs and activities. Even though Hound Pound strives to cheer for the sporting activities that do not get recognition, they also support clubs and other organizations this school has to offer. According to Shelly, participants of Hound Pound try to build bigger cheering sections at games in order to get students from all grades involved.

According to Jim Inskeep, sponsor of Hound Pound and athletics director, the focus of this organization is simply to get everyone involved. Unlike Wild Bunch and Big Game, which include only members from the Senior Class, and, therefore, a more limited crowd, Hound Pound focuses on including all grades. For example, according to Inskeep, the seniors make an effort to recruit freshmen and sophomores, hoping to get them more engaged with all Carmel High School has to offer.

“(Wild Bunch and Big Game serve) the Senior Class only, but not the student body as a whole,” Inskeep said.

The idea of class competition and the hostility among the grades does not seem to affect Shelly’s purpose for joining Hound Pound. Shelly said she joined in order to meet new people, to get involved and to cheer for her school’s teams.

“Hound pound is a great way to be a Greyhound,” Shelly said. By Audrey Baily <[email protected]> and Meredith Boyd <[email protected]>