People at SDA have had the freedom to wear whatever they choose since the school became an academy in 1996. This has been an important part of the school’s culture. In the past few years the school has stopped the lottery system and let every kid in. This overflow of students has not allowed enough time for individuals to understand and embrace the culture.

With more students, SDA’s culture will surely become extinct. Now when walking in the halls, all there is to see are masses of students wearing normal clothes. This is much different compared to seeing Pikachu and other costumes before this year. When given the freedom to do certain things like this, it is important to take advantage of that freedom so it isn’t lost. Nowadays fewer and fewer people are doing cool things to stand out and show the world why SDA is so special.

Many students have conflicting opinions on the topic of culture at SDA. In an interview, junior Sam Tays said, “I don’t think that the culture is being lost, it’s just changing.” This was an interesting thought because perhaps the culture is just expanding and evolving. The question is whether this change will be good or bad for the school.

On campus, it is a declining custom to wear costumes to represent their spirit. Tays said, “Having people wear costumes on campus makes school more interesting.” Screen Printing teacher named Caroline Cesena said, “Mrs C loves it when kids wear costumes to school.” There is a lot of support for having costumes on campus and it has been a part of our culture for a long time.

Many people at SDA have certain opinions about the lottery system being taken out. Without the lottery system, more kids are coming in to the school which makes everything more chaotic and hard to deal with.

With the lottery removed and kids flooding in from every direction, the question is raised whether or not SDA is just becoming another LCC. They don’t have the culture of freedom like we do, the kids there are more controlled and less spirited. This is a common fear among many SDA students because the culture has been preserved for years before today. Junior Parker Shaw said, “I think it will become more like LCC once the new classrooms are done because more kids will be let in.”

Maybe this will be the end of SDA’s culture, or perhaps it is just changing into something new. In the coming years, this will be made clear and SDA will become better or worse because of it.