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Standing Out

By: Shireen Korkzan <[email protected]>

Senior Chrissy Boesen says she feels like every other student here. However, unlike everyone else, she stands out more because of her unique hairstyle.

At the beginning of summer break, Boesen had her mother buzz her hair all over while leaving her hair fully grown down the center, creating a mohawk.

Although this isn’t the first time a student has worn a mohawk to school, this is her first time having one. Boesen has heard several responses to her new hair style, especially when she came to school one day with it spiked.

“Kids who haven’t talked to me since elementary school are now talking to me but I guess it’s not a bad thing,” Boesen said.

She also said that when she came to school with her mohawk spiked, someone yelled out a derogatory term in the hallways. She prefers to keep her hair down since it takes extra time to spike it up and has only spiked it about three or four times total.
“But when (my hair) is down people ask me ‘why don’t you spike it?’ It’s annoying. It’s just hair and that’s all people talk about when they see me. I can not go into a Wal-Mart without people giving me weird looks.”

Boesen said before she decided to get a mohawk, she dyed her hair several different colors but decided to switch to her new look because her hair was becoming fried and dead from so much coloring.

She wanted to buzz it to give it a fresh start. She also said she might shave off her mohawk entirely and just have short hair for a while. When asked if she worked on her hair for nonconformity, she said this is just who she is and she has felt the same since she was just a little kid.

“I was thinking about it (nonconformity) and thought that nonconformity is like anarchy and you can never be unique,” Boesen said. “There’s always someone like you. I just do what I want and I don’t care what people say.”

Psychology teachers Robin Pletcher and Pete O’Hara both said that everyone conforms to something different and that sometimes, to find their identity, nonconformity takes place.

“When you get in the stages of development, there is a time in adolescence when you try to find your identity and sometimes nonconformity is a part of that,” O’Hara said.

“There are so many students here and it’s not just her. As a teacher you see it so much it’s hard not to ignore it. You see others in the hall; could that just be nonconformity again something specific?” Pletcher said. “It could just be what you are conforming to. I would say maybe it’s just a different group (Boesen) is conforming to.”

Both Pletcher and O’Hara agreed that there are people who, for their entire life, will seek out new and different things. This could include anything such as a hair style or religion or even a choice of food.

Boesen agrees with them that adolescents often search for themselves and their true identity.

According to Erik Erikson’s theory of development, there is a stage in life called “identity vs. identity confusion,” which states that adolescents try new looks and interests because it is a time of experimentation.

Boesen said she wants to dye her hair again but cannot because Steak N’ Shake, the restuarent where she works, does not allow unique hair coloring for any their employees.

Both Pletcher and O’Hara agree that to go out into the real world, students need to realize that sometimes they have to go mainstream, however different their personalities are.

“If you’re going to go out and work in the real world sometimes you won’t get away with your non-mainstream look,” Pletcher said. “Sometimes you have to put on the tie and dress shoes.”

Either way, Boesen said that she will continue to be herself and not care what others around her in the norm say. She said, “I think all teenagers eventually find themselves. As for me, I’m comfortable with who I am. Hair is hair.”

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