Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object

 By Michael Hsu

A new school year brings a new color. Wednesday finds flamingos strutting into assembly, having visited school earlier to pick up their brightly colored shirts. But these pink shirts emerged only after a struggle against tradition, dark green, and the most unlikely foe of them all: parents.

Last May presented the ever-difficult problem of choosing a class shirt. Ms. Shawna Wood announced that the school administration, having decided pink was no longer school inappropriate, would allow the class of 2023 this unprecedented opportunity.

In the spirit of democracy, the class voted on which of the three colors to represent our final year at Dalat: to introduce pink into the roster of senior class shirt colors, to follow in the footsteps of another international school with dark green, or… maroon. Needless to say, the first round election left an improbable tie between pink and green.

In a closely watched runoff, the Class of 2023 witnessed a historic moment as pink clinched a narrow victory against green on the slimmest of margins.

But all was not over. As soon as parents were asked to pay for class shirts, their group chat erupted with malcontent. Junior parents wondered at how “gender neutral pink” managed to triumph in a boy majority class, amidst allegations of fraud?!

The class group chat immediately erupted in response, with sarcastic condemnations against and outright refutations of certain sacrilegious remarks part of an incendiary campaign to make our duly elected pink shirts just another gender thing. In fact, it quickly became apparent that votes more closely matched class demographics than gender lines.

In support of the cause, Dominic Cheang (‘23) showed up to Bible finals wearing pink jeans, as did other boys with various pink accessories. In the end, pink swept green in convincing 70-30 fashion for the third and final time, made necessary only by unwarranted parental resistance.

Yet some of us will never get caught impersonating the pink panther. Grace Neeley (‘23) expressed her adamant disapproval in AP Lit saying, “I hate it. I’m sorry but I just hate it.” 

Perhaps time will soften the blow and teach us all to see the color for what it truly is – just “faded red” (Erica Shin, ‘23).