By J1 Reporters Lily Mausbach and Jill Williamson 

Two simple hashtags- #rollevens and #rollodds, can unite a class, but divide a school. The term ‘evens and odds,’ commonly heard at Marian, is determined by the last digit of the year that a student graduates. While this promotes healthy competition within the halls of Marian, can also divide the school into two halves. 

A big factor that contributes to the division of classes are big and little sister activities. Every year, the juniors welcome their freshman “sisters” with open arms on their first day of school. Field Week and Field Night also directly provide the distinction between the evens and odds. At Field Night each year, the freshmen grow in a bonding experience with the juniors, while the sophomores spend some time with the senior class. 

Field Night heavily contributes to the division of classes at Marian, because instead of the whole school spending time together, each class does not get the opportunity to bond with their neighboring class. “I like how competitive the evens and odds are, it makes things fun! But roll odds, of course!” sophomore Joie Ferrara said.

It has been proven in the past that classes are more likely to support their correlating ‘even or odd’ class, as opposed to their neighboring classes, in Walk-A-Thon, or WAT, fundraising. However, although meeting individual class goals for WAT is very important, the school goal is the number one priority. This supports healthy competition within Marian because it sparks motivation to raise more money as a school. Without the classes working together, WAT would not achieve the level of success that it does each year! Classes at Marian can have students that range from freshmen to seniors, all within one class, so it is easy to imagine that classrooms are a popular place to talk about WAT progress and predictions. Gym teacher and co-Student Board moderator, Ms. Beth Dye said, “Some of my classes are not balanced, so I’m looking forward to having everyone back to have a normal class, where it is fun to hear about their opinions on these topics!”