The homogenized high school experience is the subject of many movies and television shows—images of crazy parties, car rides with friends, and popular cliques bombard teenagers with false expectations of adolescence. Despite what cliché movies may say about the high school journey, the harsh reality is that high school is a mixture of uncomfortable moments, mountains of homework, and stressful plans for the future. While some programs pretend that they embrace the crudeness of adolescence, they are consistently riddled with unrealistic drama and over exaggerated situations. Wanting to create a refreshing and relatable spin on the true high school experience, Walpole High School’s TV Production premiered High School Code (stylized as #HighSchoolCode), a 10-minute program based on MTV’s Girl Code and Guy Code, on March 31.
Students working in the TV Studio, who are best known for the daily morning announcements, participate in small group or individual projects involving interviewing and filming other students. Although the small enterprises have been successful in the classroom, the TV students wanted a project that they could all work on together and share with the rest of the school. ¨We all wanted to do something funny, and something that the students of Walpole would actually care about,” said junior Brendan Jeanetti, who stars in the program as a main commentator. After seeing an episode of Girl Code, Mrs. Deborah Freely— the supervisor of TV Production— suggested that the students make a spin-off that featured the unspoken rules of high school. The TV students, eager to begin working on the new project, started thinking of ideas to film right away.
Adopting the set-up of Girl Code and Guy Code, High School Code shows interviews of students discussing topics that cover certain aspects of high school. The first episode, revolving around the topics of PDA (public displays of affection) and substitute teachers, featured students from Freely’s TV Production class. Seniors Megan Jenkins, Peter Kougias, and Sam Mortali and juniors Carolyn Damish, Ashley Gilmore, Brenden Jeanetti, and Molly Millette gave their contrasting opinions on these popular subjects while related images flashed on screen. The students offered a humorous and relatable point of view on the the common trials of high school. Aired on the local Walpole station, the program garnered interest from many Walpole High students. Using the hashtag “#HighSchoolCode,” students tweeted praise for the show— all were in agreement that the student-made program was honest and hilarious. “All of the interviews were wicked funny,” said junior Matt Moriarty. “Everyone really likes it because the stuff they are saying is so true.”
“I didn’t think it would get that much attention, but a lot of kids really liked it,” said Damish, “and I think that when we bring in more people to do the show, it will be cool.”
Encouraged by the success of the first episode, the TV Production students are in the process of making a second episode focused on the subject of prom. Discussing prom preparation, photos, food, dancing, and after parties, the students in the episode will be more representative of the whole school, as TV production invited all interested students to participate. The TV students hope that the program will grow in popularity and become a regular program and TV project. “I think this [show] could have the potential to be something that WHS can have every year,” said Jeanetti. If the hilarity and positive feedback of the first episode is any indication of future success, then High School Code will certainly continue to provide entertainment and relatability for Walpole High School students in the future.
