Nervous and timid, a freshman at WO walked into his very first day of high school. Hesitant and excited, he walked around taking in the new environment. After visiting the office to pick up his schedule, he walked to his new class where he was already late. What a great first impression. Automatically, as if on command, the class glared at him, noticing his  hair, clothes, speech, and anything else that might make him not fit in. It is natural in any human to judge another; in fact, it is inevitable.

   Jr. Ulises Bahena admits to committing the same judgements towards someone, yet realizing his judgements were incorrect.  At first, when he met the person, he thought of him as “…rude, self-conceited, and disrespectful towards everyone including teachers.” As time went on, Bahena realized his mistakes as he grew to know the student. After he got used to his behavior, he had turned from the rude person he had judged to the “…funny, chill, outgoing, and friendly person” Bahena knows now as a close friend.

   We’ve all been on either side as the judge or the victim. Most people are familiar with the common phrase, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Yet, we still do it without even thinking about it. Soph. Teegan Wolcott agrees and expresses her experience where she had done the same thing. “When I was in the sixth grade, there was this weird girl in my math class and I hated her,” said Wolcott. Soon after, her teacher paired the two together to work on a project. “After being paired for the project, she was really nice and funny, and we have been best friends ever since.”

   Frosh. Sarai Gomez also confessed to committing the same acts as the previous two . Gomez found herself making judgements about a new classmate based upon a biased

first impression. “When I had first met [the person], [the person] seemed to be the type of person to try to fit in by making everyone laugh, and they were really annoying,” said Gomez. Soon, however, Gomez changed her mind. “After getting close to [the person], I realized [the person] was really helpful. They do not expect things in return when I ask them for favors, and I trust them with everything,” Gomez said.

  Judging someone is natural; sometimes we should go with our gut, but one should always at least get to know a person before deciding to abhore them or become friends with them. One might realize they missed out on a best friend or something even greater.