From April 17 to 21, the US History classes celebrated Counterculture Week. This gave Juniors a chance to embrace hippie culture and learn about the late 60’s.

“The week was really fun and I really enjoyed bonding time with my classmates. I also felt like it would be so much fun if we had like a rally to do this together as a whole class and not just a single period,” said Aishwarya Anburaja (‘24).

During each history class on Tuesday, April 18, students went down to the softball field, where they found buckets of dye and squirt bottles. Using their creativity, everyone was able to create their own unique tie-dye t-shirt with different colors and patterns. 

 “I thought it was a cute idea and I always wanted to participate in junior class activities. I love that we do things as a class and we are all united. I love how my shirt turned out and I am so excited to wear it to the gym,” said Kira Rittmuller (‘24).

This tradition started 24 years ago when teachers felt the need for a greater appreciation of counterculture while teaching their classes this specific unit. Teachers then decided to start tie-dying as a fun activity, which led to the creation of the rest of the counterculture traditions. 

“The big deal is when during lunch we have live music playing. In the past, student bands have played, which apparently we still can’t get these days, because kids aren’t active in bands. We play some music, we have a chance to be on Hippie Hill and sit on the grass together. We enjoyed our lunch, and this year there was great participation,” said US History teacher Thomas Dalldorf. 

On Friday, April 21, Juniors gathered on the grass and took over Hippie Hill. They enjoyed their lunches and music in the middle of the quad. After lunch, they also danced to the hits of the 1960´s. 

“The teachers looked like they were having a lot of fun. It was pretty entertaining. Hippie Hill was a great experience, and it was really entertaining to see all the teachers have fun. Everyones’ outfits were cute,” said Aanya Gupta (‘24).  

To celebrate the event, Dalldorf transformed his classroom into a late 60s hang out with fluorescent lights and neon colors.  Students learned about songs from the hippie times and dissected the lyrics from these songs. Teachers felt as though this was a great way to not only learn about the late 1960’s, but also experience it. 

“My favorite part of Counterculture Day is what happens in the classrooms. We have the kids break down songs from the late 60s. They choose a song in a group of three to four and they try to interpret it by line or the main idea behind each song. It is very enlightening because sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t. But we have some really good discussions about them,” said Dalldorf.