Overcoming Sticky Situations: Return of the Fight-Free Board

Story By HEHS Journalism Program, as a collective effort.
Praise Aruwajoye, Ne’Veah Dudley, Antoine Hill, Michelle Holloway, Seth Jones, Shanti Laurel, Dominic McCament, Charles Morgan, Darilyn Purnell, Taylah Qualls, Saniyah Ragsdale, Kortney Riley, Kaleb Smith, Udonus Strother, Hannah Wallace, Mo’Nique Williams, Vivica Williams

Hazelwood East High School Seniors celebrated 10 Fight Free days with a pancake breakfast provided by the school on October 25, 2021.

All students compete in a grade-level competition to reach as many fight-free days as possible. After a rough start, similar to many schools in the country, seniors have reached 10 days in a row of no fights. This was marked with a pancake breakfast celebration.

Dr. Chauncey Granger, Principal of Hazelwood East High School said, “The fight-free banner is not necessarily what makes this process successful, It is the positive peer pressure. Sometimes we pressure each other to do some silly and inappropriate things, like posting fights on social media. The Fight Free initiative helps us to hold each other accountable. In the past, once we got into double digits, the kids really got into it. They begin to break up or even prevent fights on their own.”

Seniors were happy to be rewarded for their good work.

“It felt good to have 10 fight-free days because it shows how mature we are. And for your senior year you should want to have a smooth ride”, said Saniyah Ragsdale (12). “We want to have as many rewards as we can get”

Underclassmen have struggled throughout the semester to have fight free days.

“Petty things that happen over social media make it hard to keep fight-free days”, said Hannah Wallace (11). We need to realize that these things aren’t worth getting violent or physical over.”

According to many seniors, going 10 days without a fight was easy. 

“I don’t know anyone I would want to fight”, said Antoine Hill (12). I am here to graduate!”

The seniors at EHS have a track record of success in the building, specifically regarding being fight-free. 

“I’m not surprised that the seniors made it”, Said Principal, Dr. Chauncey Granger. “This group has been with me for a long time. They actually tied the record for the longest fight-free streak, which was 37 days.”

Moving forward, the EHS community hopes to see continued progress through fewer fights and more pride in school culture. 

“What I want students to understand is that your diploma and your reputation are valuable. We want our diploma to mean something”, said Dr. Granger. “The negative energy and things being posted about East do not reflect the hard work that most of us are doing every day.”