Working your way through Deerfield is a maze. Starting the first day you step through the door, you begin trying to figure out which paths to take. In this past year and a half I have never felt more confused trying to understand how to excel in this crazy place and digest opinions of teachers and my fellow students.

2017 is a new year. A new president is beginning his term, the 12th graders are slowly finding out about colleges, and we are evaluating new students who may become a part of this great learning environment. I feel as if it is time for Deerfield to reflect on what we can do better to prepare our students for the real word. In all honesty, we are living in a bubble where cutting the line in the dining hall is a bad thing; but in reality, it happens.  You have to learn how to cope with unfairness in our world.

With Donald Trump being the president-elect and stepping into the White House on Friday, January 20, 2017, it is our job as a community to welcome the president and support him. I would not have voted for Trump, but the negativity towards him on this campus is embarrassing. The day after the election, some teachers at Deerfield refused to teach their class. Now, many of them struggle to talk about the election in anything but a negative light, which sets an exceptionally poor example for every student at the school.

I often wonder whether there would have been safe spaces if Hillary Clinton had been elected:  teachers requesting for the inauguration to be optional, students walking around with shirts saying they refuse to speak because they are “still with him.”

The Deerfield community needs to give Trump a chance and respect him as we would respect any other president. He may or may not be the most ideal president for the next four years, but he won the election.

In preparing  Deerfield students for reality, the school needs to teach us not to let our political opinions get in the way of our job, to respect something we do not necessarily agree with, and to always give someone a chance.  I believe if a student follows these three things, they will become a stronger individual, enabling them to step outside our bubble and navigate their path through this maze to operate in the “real world” more effectively.