xxx High School's student body occupies a peculiar position among local high schools. Unlike others, whose student bodies are fairly homogenous and filled with serried ranks of middle-class suburban teenagers, xxx's personifies that hallowed  American ideal of the melting pot: a diverse mixture of backgrounds and origins, ethnicities and social classes, and that which, when linked together, forms something larger than the sum of its parts. This kaleidoscopic collective furnishes many of the intangible components needed for a successful educational experience: a wealth of different ideas and viewpoints, opportunities for cross-cultural communication,  and, most importantly, a chance at intellectual achievement that transcends all conditions--fortunate or unfortunate--that one is born into. In this supportive environment almost everyone can find their own niche to occupy, their own clique to be a part of. That self-assurance that comes from a personal sense of belonging seems to be a part of xxx incommensurate with any other school around.
	And yet, some do not feel at home at xxx. This isn't the faculty's fault. This isn't their parents fault. It's the students' fault. Within our microcosmic student body, there are some deficient in empathetic feeling, some insensitive to the plights of their fellow peers. And to correct this, no amount of saccharine, repetitious assemblies filled with emotional platitudes will work. And what will? I'm not sure. But I believe it has to come at the personal level. Every student must come to the realization that they must treat others as they themselves wish to be treated. Collectively, and individually, we students must learn to act with respect, justice, friendliness and magnanimity  enough that even Aristotle would praise us for our ethos. Only then would everybody be responsible in their behavior, confident in their appearance, assured in their views, and secure in themselves. Only then would everybody be somebody at xxx High School.