Photo by Annika Bhananker

At Mercer Island High School, the sophomores are often referred to as “the worst class.” As 10th graders, we decided to delve into the reasonings of this harrowing claim and most importantly explain why it is is undeniably false.

One argument we have encountered is that the Class of 2020 has “an excessive e-cigarette addiction.” We can confirm that this is definitely not the case. After a survey of entirely honest responses, 97 percent of students reported not even knowing the terms “juul” or “vape,” and the remaining 3 percent thought they were mere meme references.

There has also been talk about the 10th graders’ immature sense of humor. Again, this is incorrect. A sophomore would never joke about something inappropriate or serious. Never. That accusation, in and of itself, is insulting.

Not only do sophomores never use crude humor, the sophomore boys would also never objectify girls. The boys in our grade are definitely past the time in middle school when they made their top five list of girls. In fact, scoring Cheer and Drill’s bodies is much more respectful.

In addition, the warnings teachers receive about our class are, contrary to popular belief, all positive.

“There is no class I would rather teach than the wonderful Class of 2020,” an English teacher said.  

The sophomores not only garner praise and love from their teachers, but their fellow upperclassmen as well.

“I’ll admit it. I am envious of the 10th graders — maybe I should fail a year so I can be in their class,” one junior said. “It’s hard to put in words how amazing that group of kids are. I know in my heart that this class would never do anything bad, like vandalizing the bathrooms or stealing a sink.”

We have to assume that individuals who hate on our grade are doing it solely out of jealousy. And we get it — who would not be jealous of our class? If people need to deal with their envy by making us the focal point of their poorly executed memes in a Facebook group, then so be it.

Our positive reputation among teachers, mature behavior and the fact that we never leave the 200 hall bathroom smelling like cotton candy makes us beyond proud to be part of the best grade at MIHS.

With 2020 vision, we can see the bright future ahead of us. The only sad part will be seeing the teachers cry as we leave nothing but lower expectations and stricter bathroom-break rules behind.