The St. Paul’s School opened its doors to the students on August 8, 2013, to begin the 2013-14 school year.  Not long after that, it was time for I.D. photos, and every student lined up to have their best pictures taken. And while they sat there, smiling, with high hopes and goals for academic and athletic success, there I was in the back, scowling.

My issue was due to the fact that I had a dawning realization: I had been reliving this exact moment over and over. It’s the same thing each time…show up, get the form signed, and wait in a giant sea of blue polo shirts until it comes time to smile pretty for the camera.

After such an epiphany, the mind begins to piece together other facts and facets that relate to it. Every week, all I see is blue. There has been little change in scenery as far as student appearance goes.  And I say, it’s high time we go back to the days of old and return the multiple color options of uniform shirts to the students.

As few as five years ago, the students were given three options: they had a choice of a white shirt, gold shirt, or the standard blue shirt. Alas, since the end of the 2007-08 year, the white and gold options have ceased.

Not only would the change back to the tri-color uniform code add some variety to an often dull wardrobe of the usual blues and tans, the students would genuinely get to “show their stripes,” and truly express their school through the colors they wear.

Last year, the administration of the school put into place the formal uniform, but it’s only used for events like Mass, which aren’t frequent in the schedule. The new formal dress regulation has gotten its fair share of criticism since it began, with the most general opinion seeming to be that it’s an onus that one could mistakenly mess up or forget and get in trouble for.

The claim is that the all blue shirt rule shows off the uniformity of the school.  If you ask me though, there are some things that are necessary to make yourself stand out from all the rest.  St. Paul’s would be even more of a unique school if the students were given the uniform color option once again. To me, this is of big importance, if not for the sake of being a different type of student body, then, at least, to make the environment of the campus and classrooms more vivid.