By J1 Reporter Cece West

Although Marian students and staff can relate to each other in many ways, they have many noticeable generational differences. Whether it comes to their tastes in music or movies, teachers and students have different opinions. 

Marian students were born between 2001-2005. Junior Anna Ulferts said, “I liked to go camping.” Ulferts used to do this all the time with her family. It was a nice way for Anna and her family to spend time outdoors and away from technology. She also loved to listen to Hannah Montana and watch the Dragon Tales. 

Junior Meredith Pelton said, “I was a weird kid, I would dress up.” Both of these girls enjoyed hanging out with friends and using their imagination. Pelton said she loved listening to the Backyardigans and watching Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses. Although Pelton and Ulferts had access to television, they said they would rather spend their time outdoors or playing games.

Teachers were born between 1952 and 1997. When History ‍Mr. David Anderson was asked to name one Hannah Montana song, he could only think of “Party in the USA,” which was sung by Miley Cyrus, the actress and singer who played the role of Hannah Montana. He was also unable to name one of the Barbie movies. Theology teacher Mr. Mark Koesters could name neither a Hannah Montana song nor a Barbie movie. 

Mrs. Ronda Ronspies was born before the students at Marian. Although their times were different, they still had similar hobbies growing up. Ronspies said she loved to play sports with her friends. Her favorite band was “The Jackson 5” and her favorite show to watch was the Brady Bunch. 

Koesters grew up listening to Simon and Garfunkel and watching Bonanza. Ulferts said she was not able to name one Simon and Garfunkel song and did not know what Bonanza was. 

Pelton was able to name a song by The Jackson 5. “The ABC song!” she exclaimed. Pelton was also able to name several Brady Bunch family members, “Bobby, Marcia and Greg,” she said. 

Anderson said his favorite activity to do was, “play baseball in the neighborhood and hit the ball over the tree.” He also enjoyed listening to Bob Dylan, who was popular before Anderson’s time, and watching Star Wars and Indiana Jones. 

Although staff and students grew up in different time periods, they are still able to recognize some people, music, television shows, and movies from each other’s childhoods. The students were able to recognize more of the teachers childhood movies and artists. They could recognize the music and television shows of the teachers who were younger. Pelton said, “My mom used to play old television shows for us on snow days and rainy days.” Part of the reason Pelton was able to know TV and music from the past was because of new technology. Now families can look up videos on YouTube from the past, which was not available when some teachers were kids. 

Even though the students and staff shows many differences in their childhood preferences, they are still able to relate to each other and participated in similar activities when they were young. 

Junior Meredith Pelton dresses up as a princess in the first photo. English teacher Ms. Megan Piernicky is a bunny in the middle photo and math teacher Mr. Peter Cunninghman is a Mighty Duck in the last photo.  All students and staff can relate to the Halloween tradition.