The lunch bell chimes. Classroom doors whip open, the halls become swamped with students. Your stomach growls as you trek your way through the building. You notice the early students to the cafeteria have already initiated the claps, evident by their echoes in the hall. Clap! Clap! It intensifies, the cafeteria alive in applause. Clap! Clap! Clap! You struggle to open the building’s blue door against the weight of your excited peers. Once free ‒ and after that sudden blast of hot air warms your frigid body ‒ you hear them more clearly. CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! You know exactly what day it is!

   The Jags call it Friday Clap. “It’s a super fun thing that gets the school together to celebrate Fridays and the end of the week,” senior Lily McCormick says. “It’s a way we give ourselves credit for all the hardships and efforts we went through during our school week,” senior Stephanie Sanders adds.

   Friday Clap originated at the high school, however some students were introduced to it even earlier. “I was exposed to it in 6th grade in the first week of school,” junior Christian Manuel reminisces. “Everyone just started randomly clapping and it only felt right that I joined in.” Similar tales of tradition can be heard around campus. “I was exposed to the clap freshman year,” senior Lorenzo “LOLO” Sanchez says. “Since then, I’ve just been trying to keep the tradition alive.” LOLO is one of the few upperclassmen who begin the clap each Friday, but also one of the many who encourage underclassmen to participate in the custom. 

   Zakariaou Ibrahimou has not had his insides vibrate, his ears ring, or his feet sink beneath the crumbling floor upon entry to the cafeteria. “I faintly hear the claps, but I do not know what they’re for,” the sophomore ‒ who primarily eats lunch outside ‒ says. The claps, however, are mostly confined nearer to or inside the cafeteria. LOLO and other upperclassmen wish to change this.

   “Everybody should join each time; we want to get it as loud as possible,” LOLO prompts. Stephanie reinforces these sentiments of school spirit and togetherness. “The noise is thrilling!” she starts. “When I was a freshman, the seniors would start it and everyone would know what it was.” Sanders hopes the tradition will be like it once was. 

    Lily shares a similar story. “I was a freshman when my sister and her friends would start the Friday Clap as seniors,” she recalls. “Now, I get to do the same.” 

    Lily ‒ like all participants ‒ welcomes every grade level to join in on the fun: “Don’t be afraid to clap in the cafeteria every Friday!” she loudly and proudly exclaims.