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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can you talk about the social aspect of TJ?  How easy/hard was it to make friends?  Join and be a real part of a club or organization?  Do you do any ECs?  How about your take on school spirit?  Thanks.[/quote]

OP here! Socially, TJ attracts a certain type of person. People are very dedicated and driven to succeed, but I've found that there's also a very high level of empathy and emotional intelligence among my peers for each other. I might have been lucky in the friendships that I've formed through IBET or clubs, but people really do seem to care about each other and are understanding of different situations. It was very easy for me to make friends at the beginning of the year and even throughout my time at TJ, and even people that don't make friends as easily end up doing what they like and finding their people. I've heard that some people dislike TJ's social scene because it's very school-oriented (ie: people talk about studying all the time or grades) but TJ is also full of people passionate about many, many different things--even if the thing that unites most people is the general feel of TJ's workload. People do care about grades and are always willing to talk about teachers or classes if you're ever at a loss for conversation-starters, lol. There's also a really great dance culture at the school, and I think that more than half the school participates in Inite--which is a great way to get involved with TJ's community. Of course, like every school, there are some people that are just rude or cheaters--but it's definitely not everybody.

Separately, my main EC is marching band. I have been part of marching band since my freshman year and do band during the school year. Band is stereotypically a very close community within TJ and though marching band is a huge (very huge) time commitment, I love how it pushes me to play as best I can. I also write for the literary magazine, go to health clubs, and volunteer at Weyanoke (the nearby elementary school). It wasn't very hard to get involved in these clubs, moreso show up and choose to participate and eventually you've made yourself a member. A lot of clubs at TJ need members. The clubs that are more selective, like Science Olympiad, MUN, or certain types of debate (TJ has many types of debate) might require you to do studying or work outside of the time--but these are all competition-based and I know of highly-successful people in each of these that didn't begin until high school, then found out they really liked it. Basically, at the beginning of the year, there's no reason not to try something new out.

School spirit at TJ is pretty good, especially around homecoming. Homecoming is a really fun week of the year complete with pep rallies and spirit bombing and a well-attended football game on Friday. The school is really lively and if you've ever seen a picture of TJ's pep rally, it's really intense. There's also yearly events like JDay which is essentially a long festival and miscellaneous class-sponsored events that people enjoy going to. However, fall football games aren't usually very well attended since a lot of people live far from TJ.

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