High School, Hazing, fraternities, Homecoming, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors
Safe and Amazing
Fun with Hazing
One of the greatest memories from my high school years at De La Salle (DLS) High School in New Orleans as a freshman was during the Homecoming week - otherwise known as Hazing time for the Seniors. I certainly hated it at that point in my life but have grown into a fond appreciation for it.
While most recent publicized events related to hazing have been rightfully branded as inappropriate, the high school experiences I had were fun and engendered a true "esprit de corps" for all of us.
It seems like many college fraternity or gang related examples of hazing have gone too far and, in some instances, have involved criminal and dangerous behavioral activities of upperclassmen or established members upon freshmen or neophytes.
So being a freshman at DLS, as Homecoming week was coming near, we all began to hear stories from sophomores, juniors and especially seniors about what lay ahead for us. This taunting was innocent, and the school administration laid down the rules about what boundaries had to be upheld - whether for freshmen or seniors. Being that DLS was an all male school, there were some obvious things that did not have to be reviewed re: student interaction.
Freshmen at DLS were obliged to do simple tasks like carrying books for a senior for half an hour before and after school. And silly things like dancing with another freshman student while singing the school's fight song were pretty common.
Another Homecoming attribute for freshmen at DLS that was embarrassing was having to dress in an odd manner during Homecoming week - a DLS beanie hat, a long sleeved shirt, short pants, and a tie! I would get many riders on the St. Charles Avenue Street Car laughing as I would get on and off to school.
So after the first four rough but fun days of Homecoming Week, we looked forward to Friday, the day of the Homecoming Football Game. But what we really looked forward to was Kangaroo Court and "The Line." Any freshmen who were caught not doing any reasonable requests from seniors that week had to go in front of the whole school in the gym that Friday morning for a Kangaroo Court!
Basically, the court was made up leadership form the senior class who would quickly, in front of the whole school, make a proclamation like, "Billy Bob has been found guilty of DLS treason and is sentenced to ...." One freshman was shown live worms in a container and then, after being blindfolded, has to eat candy worms in a switched but similar jar. Another friend was tied to a chair and had honey poured on him and then had marshmallows thrown at him by the court members!
All of the pranks were done in jest, and never was the victim in any way forced to do something against his will or done anything to in an inappropriate manner. Also, the school's administration were monitoring all of these events.
My real favorite memory from that week was "The Line." After Kangaroo Court, all freshmen were gathered in the Gym locker's area and told to put on the junk clothes that we had brought for the event. Essentially, Leontine Street between DLS and the Jewish Community Center, was closed off to traffic and a straight path was made in the street with rope holders.
Every senior had a large plastic garbage can filled with flour and water in it - 1/2 of the flour that seniors brought to school was donated to a charity. About 10 feet separated from where the seniors were roped off from the freshmen line.
So the freshmen started walking down the roped path slowly and were inundated with hand thrown chunks of flour paste. What could we do? Simple pick up some flour paste and hurl it back at the seniors which is what we all did. Teachers helped keep the line moving and seniors from getting out of hand, but that didn't mean that they weren't fair targets!
After we all made it through the line and had a blast, other teachers, including the Christian Brothers, were positioned on ladders near the Gym to hose us all off! Unfortunately, I forgot to put some bryl creme or Vaseline on my hair before going in the line, so I had a very hard time combing out the dried flour!
While all of us freshmen had initially hated the thought of Hazing week, it actually turned out to be a real school unifier. Sure, some seniors and freshmen did get out of hand, but they were the minority and had many detentions to show for it.
The vast majority of us freshmen really were psyched up as we went to the Homecoming Game that Friday night. We could all come together for a cause and had gotten to know each other so quickly - with all the class levels.
My only regret is that when we became seniors at DLS, we still could do the weekday interrogation stuff to freshmen, but "The Line" was taken away by the school administrators. The freshmen really missed our on some special fun!
Keith John Paul Horcasitas, LCSW, MHA, 1133 Knollhaven Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70810, khorcasitas.yahoo.com, January 18, 2009.
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