How Arrowhead Students feel about the “Arrowhead Stereotype”

Stereotypes are found everywhere.

Hannah Burchardt, senior at Arrowhead says that the Arrowhead stereotypes are “people think we are all rich, snobby, white, and preppy. They say that all of us are smart. Burchardt says “ I do not fit into the Arrowhead stereotype because I am not rich, I don’t have a 4.0 gpa, and I do not participate in any Arrowhead sports.” She also says “Arrowhead is known a lot for their football and other sports teams, and people outside of Arrowhead say that the main focus here is on the football team.”

Samantha Jo Heinitz, senior at Arrowhead says “It is frustrating to those of us who try to represent something more than the stereotype, and can’t manage to break out of the mold. We don’t get enough credit for the people who aren’t rich, sports enthusiasts, and I wish that was different.” She says that she does not fit into the Arrowhead stereotype because “I don’t play any sports at Arrowhead. In fact, I am in theater, and our stellar program doesn’t get half of the recognition that our football team does.”

Hunter Pinkalla, senior at Arrowhead who previously attended University Lake School, says that the stereotype is “all white, rich people, that care only about football. This is not true however, we have an amazing soccer team, lacrosse team, and other teams who have won many state titles.” Pinkalla also says “A lot of the teams that have also placed and won state titles, mainly only get a special shoutout at lunch, and there are never many fans there– which is really sad. The football team always has a large student section, and the stands are always filled. You don’t always see that at Swim meets or lacrosse games.”

Colton Diliberto has mixed feelings about the Arrowhead stereotypes. He says “Some of it holds true, like how our football team is really good. The reason our team is so good, is because they have practice almost every day and they dedicate a lot of their time into the sport. A lot of people outside of the Arrowhead community say that Arrowhead is mostly made of rich, white people, and that is not true.” Diliberto also says “Everyone thinks that we all drive nice cars. That is also not true because I drive a GMC Envoy, and my friend drives a 2001 Honda Civic. When people say we drive nice cars, I always think about Beamers, Mercedes Benz, and Bentleys, and there are not many of those cars here.”