Earn Respect, Don’t Expect It.

It’s no secret that seniority matters at Deerfield.

It’s a power that can be wielded with grace, though occasionally one abused. With every passing year come covetable new privileges. Our seniors in particular have every reminder of their status at the top of the food chain, from the senior table to senior grass and the senior verse of the Deerfield Evensong.

These privileges have been hard earned. It is a mistake to think that seniors’ earlier years at Deerfield simply “passed by”—they have been survived. And for this, our seniors merit respect.

One of the greatest challenges we face as a community is the preservation of this respect. Of course, to deserve respect, seniors must constantly prove themselves worthy, and in this regard, our senior class still has some headway to make.

When underclassmen trash the Greer and disrespect community members, seniors must not react with hostility towards the offenders, but with a sense of responsibility to the community to which they have committed themselves for three or four years.

While underclassmen may not know better, these years have hopefully taught the seniors what is right and what is wrong, what is admirable and what is not. This is the heritage that the Deerfield administration loves to advertise, but that the student body, led by the senior class, truly upholds