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Whether it’s a princess, an athlete, a basket case, a brain or a criminal, labeling and stereotyping is a part of high school life. With all the judgment, it is sometimes hard to see past people’s outward appearance to who he or she really is. The movie The Breakfast Club is a classic teenage coming-of-age story that exhibits how people are more than what meets the eye.
Over 20 years since the film’s release, the classic Breakfast Club stereotypes have not changed. We’ve found some of Redwood’s own students who seem to fit them on the surface, yet also show the true individual behind their label.
The Princess
Olivia Lee doesn’t mind that people perceive her as a class princess.
“I lightweight consider myself a princess, but not completely,” Lee said. “I have expensive tastes, and I can be a total girl a lot of the time. Pretty much everyone knows my favorite color is pink, and I still love Disney princesses and I am a little too old for them, but I also do a lot of things that aren’t exactly princess like.”
But Lee, who will be attending Sewanee University of the South next fall, isn’t your average princess. Sure, she likes to shop, party and have a good time like any princess would, but she also has some unexpected hobbies.
“I have been shooting guns since I was eight years old. I have a .22 which I got for my eighth birthday, a .12 gauge pump shot gun when I was 11 and a .9 millimeter when I was 16,” Lee said. “I like things that make me feel in control, since I never really feel that in my own life.”
Lee also said that her princess exterior is only a part of what her friends actually see in her.
“I feel like most of the people I hang out with end up realizing that I am not what everyone thinks I am, which is a pretty caring and un-hateful person,” she said.
The Athlete
Matt Tymstra made his first friends in high school on the football team, and they are still his closest friends today.
“I think a part of me is definitely a jock…sports are a big part of my life, but I’m a student athlete: student first, athlete second,” Tymstra said.
Tymstra, who is going to Loyola Marymount in the fall, said that many people stereotype jocks as dumb, and nothing more.
“Not only are the stereotypical jocks just kind of dumb, they go through school without really caring,” Tymstra said. “They are also a bully and they walk though school with their head back, above everyone else.”
Although Tymstra is planning on playing rugby in college, he also wants to write. Throughout high school he used creative writing as a way to release the stress of academics and life in general. He was also an editor for this year’s new literary mag, Pulp.
“For me, writing has always been a release,” Tymstra said. “Football and school and everything else can be pretty demanding, and writing helps me stay grounded with all that in my life. I’m going to pursue writing in college, but I am also playing sports.”
The Basket Case
Tride Makens has always been a rebel. Unlike some of her peers, she enjoys going against the flow and being unique.
“I don’t go to Redwood parties and I don’t hang out with Redwood kids,” Makens said.
Makens insists there’s no stereotype that could suit her, including a basket case, and she just wants to be known as herself, and nothing more.
“People don’t know who I am, and if they do, they think I’m probably a strange person. I think they’d say, ‘That’s Trudie? Who is that?’ They would probably think I’m some quiet girl wearing tight pants.”
However, Makens disagrees that she’s quiet or strange. She enjoys literature, poetry, music and likes to take pictures, though she denies having any talent in photography.
“I’m not very interesting,” Makens said.
Part of Makens’ style of photography involves asking strangers to stand and pose for pictures, and capturing their awkwardness as they pose.
“I connect more to people than walls or nature,” Makens said.
The Brain
Sam Toizer is smart. Really smart. Maybe even “geek” smart. But he is not your typical nerd.
“I don’t have glasses, a pocket protector or running shoes,” said Toizer, a senior who will attend Northwestern University this fall.
Toizer is the class co-valedictorian.
He says that he doesn’t mind that he may be called the class geek, because he has friends who know him as someone who is passionate about music and life in general.
Toizer is in a band, Sir Francis Shake, that is currently working on recording an album. He also writes his own music, and sees it as a way to express himself.
“Music gives me a way to express myelf in other ways that I can’t in school,” Toizer said. “Talk to me for five minutes and you’ll realize that I am a very well-rounded person.”
Though Toizer does not want to be stereotyped, he says that in a place like Redwood, it is almost impossible to avoid.
“Realistically, I don’t really think there is anything anyone can do to stop stereotypes,” he said. “They are just going to happen, especially at this age.”
The Criminal
Nash Kurilko was never one to go with the grain. Although The Breakfast Club was made in 1985, Judd Nelson’s character coul not have been more similar to Nash’s personality.
“I don’t go to school and when I go to school I don’t go to class and when I go to class I don’t do the work,” Kurilko said. “People look at me and they just automatically assume I’m an asshole, which isn’t that off-target, but it’s still kind of rude.”
Kurilko’s real interests lie in theatre and creative writing. He marries the two interests through writing his own original plays.
Kurilko is currently writing a play in Advanced Drama and has acted in two productions to date.
“I really like improvisational acting and character development,” Kurilko said. “If I could put my two hobbies together playwrighting is pretty much what it is.”
Kurilko admits he may be seen as a criminal by those who don’t know him. But he doesn’t mind the stereotype.
“My brain just doesn’t do math. I stopped actually doing math in the fifth grade,” Kurilko said. “I stopped playing sports when I was like, nine.”
