Humans, like other species, when encountering a new system, strive to find that which is familiar. Thus, people initially hang out with people with similar backgrounds, zip codes, tax bracket, and race. I ask any one who is reading this to name their closest friends, and for the majority of you, they will be from the same geographical area, of the same race, or friends from pre-Deerfield.
I’m not asking you to shun people you identify with easily, but the result of this trend is that friend groups formed during this initial phase tend to stay together until graduation.
There are people that will say that, of course, people gather with whom they feel most comfortable, but isn’t part of the Deerfield experience about getting to know new people? We are all part of this community now. It is our obligation to each other, to our teachers, to this entire ecosystem, to be open to new people and ideas, or at the very least receptive of those trying to branch out.