The definition of a neighborhood is a district, especially one forming a community within a town or city, according to Oxford Languages. Did you know that we have one of those right in our very own high school? At the very end of the E wing in the basement, there is a group of four classrooms with a group of teachers that are more than just teachers. The teachers, Mr. Wagner, Mr. W. Kantz, Mr. K. Kantz and Mrs. Kyler, are the friends that make The Neighborhood a Neighborhood.
“The Neighborhood is a collection of 4 social studies teachers here at the end of the zero hallway who try continuously just to create community amongst our hall,” said Mr. K. Kantz.
Sophomore Paige Hughes described the neighborhood as the “warm part of the school.”
The Neighborhood has lots of fun traditions, such as its Neighborhood Homecoming court. To be eligible, a student has to have a class in The Neighborhood, and usually about 10 females and 10 males are chosen.
“Ours is, as we like to say, more inclusive,” Wagner said. “It’s just kind of something silly we do but anything that involves a lot of students, anything to create happiness and some kind of general chaos to the school year is good for us.”
Wagner also talked about their Muskrat Day and how it came about. One year, a muskrat was caught near The Neighborhood, starting the tradition.
Every spring, The Neighborhood celebrates their Muskrat Day with lots of different activities.
“It creates community and it’s just fun and it will bring all kinds of different people down,” Wagner said.
This celebration has gotten so big that they must have it outside. A main part of this celebration is their crowning of a muskrat monarch. The crown usually goes to an important member of the staff that is retiring.
“You know it’s kind of just fun for fun’s sake,” said Wagner.
Wagner talked a lot about how the teachers in The Neighborhood love to make community and get everyone involved, and these events are just how they make that happen.
Junior Bill Wang said that “the sense of community between the teachers” is what makes The Neighborhood so special, such as how the teachers are always having a conversation outside their rooms during passing times.
Wagner, Kantz, Kantz, and Kyler show their students that teachers can be very good friends and make four classrooms at the end of a hallway a very fun and inviting place to be.
