Lake Zurich’s reputation has always strived to “achieve personal excellence” and have a “connection to our community” as stated in the Principal’s corner on the district website. But with the decisions and incidents that have plagued our school in recent years where do we, as students, draw the line?

Illegal substances, bullying, vaping, and parties are just some of the things that the student body is guilty of, and although the school is taking steps to help limit these problems, students are disregarding the authority of the staff, and students like Katie Glazbrook, sophomore, see this first hand.

To be completely honest, [if I was talking to a student from a different school] I would tell them about the reputation our school has […] although I will always end the story with, “despite its scandals, LZHS is still an amazing school and I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else!” Glazbrook, said.

Although we can’t change the past, we can learn from it, and students need to learn that the school is cracking down on punishments. The school treats students as adults, and with that respect comes rightful punishments. They aren’t just letting “boys be boys” or saying “they’re just kids”; these consequences are real.

As stated in the 2017-2018 Parent- Student Handbook; “The CUSD 95 Board Of Education is providing these behavior expectations to assist students, parent(s)/guardian(s) and staff to realize they have the right to make choices, are responsible for their choices and understand there are favorable and unfavorable consequences for their choices. In order to provide a culturally responsive and safe educational environment for all students, CUSD 95 has implemented a system of supports and behavioral interventions to navigate their education.”

The district acknowledges these actions taken by the LZHS students and are working to help prevent these incidents from occurring again. With these rules set in place, students should listen, because the consequences of their actions can be severe if taken lightly. These illegal activities can not only hurt yourself or others but can also prohibit your future.

“The college in question might or might not choose to revoke the admissions offer,” Karen Ekman-Baur, Director of College Counseling at Leysin American School, said. “If I were a student, I would also be very careful of what gets posted on Facebook and other social media platforms. Some of these postings can be extremely compromising of a student’s integrity. Finally, going to the extreme, criminal activity on the part of the student would be, as might be expected, grounds for the revocation of a college admission offer.” 

These consequences are real, and LZHS students need to see that. Even one student can make a difference, spread the word of change, and make a new brand for LZ.

“Just like for a person with a bad reputation, the only way to change what people think about you is to show them over time that you’ve changed, [because] actions speak louder than words.” Glazbrook said.