The new dress code for the 2015-16 school year is out, and with it a ton of exciting new changes. Thanks to the focus groups earlier in the year, high school and middle school students will now have increased freedom, including being able to wear shirts with words and pictures (as long as they’re school-appropriate, of course!) and comfortable pants like sweatpants or athletic wear, as long as they wear a lanyard with their school ID around their neck at all times.

It appears that the high-schoolers are excited for the change. One sophomore (who wished to remain anonymous) expressed interest in students’ reactions, especially for those in middle school. “I thought that the new dress code allows quite a bit more freedom without going over the edge. It will be interesting to see if Secondary School can use these new freedoms responsibly next year,” he said. Another anonymous high-schooler told me, extremely succinctly, “Everything’s good except the lanyards. That’s a dumb idea.” He went on to say, “Lanyards = absolutely not.” When I asked him about any changes he’d make, he replied, “Everything’s good but the lanyards.”

Many of Horizon Honors’ up-and-coming high-schoolers, our current middle-schoolers, are excited for the change. Eighth grader Stephanie Clark gushed, “I’m genuinely excited for next year’s changes… I love the patterned shirts and the hair color is awesome!” And another eighth-grader, Kate Wilson, expressed her satisfaction. “I really like the new freedoms,” she said. “I don’t think any of it should change.”

The eighth-graders are satisfied, and so are the high-schoolers, but what about the seventh-graders? They’re not going into high school, and the MS dress code is basically unaltered. Seventh-grader Selina Fluty bluntly told me, “Lanyards need to go. And middle-schoolers need to be able to dye their hair unnatural colors. Please? Thanks.”

All in all, Horizon’s student body is very excited about next year’s dress code. With a few tiny tweaks, this dress code could be perfect. Next year is going to be a great year, not just for clothes, but for students in general.