The day began, with a whiff of that distinct EPAC smell, and some loud “pump-up music” bursting throughout the auditorium. Just one of the carefully selected and painstakingly prepared aspects of a presentation meant to inspire and inform us of the project that will define our coming year. This presentation even implemented a modern tech tool, TodaysMeet.com. A privilege meant to include even the most shy of students to help in the discussion. It was a privilege that proved to be in vain. As the day wore on, expected juvenile shenanigans turned to harsh, abominably abusive, harassment directed towards teachers and students.

Masses of vulgar comments were posted on TodaysMeet.com. Beginning with sexual innuendos and harassment explicitly referring to sexual turn-ons and horrifying comments about rape. This chatter eventually turned to racist and homophobic language. “You’re a monkey and a f***ing n*****,” one assailant wrote, “I am passionate about breasts… and b****es.” The conversation even took a turn to discussing genital length. These posts were under anonymous aliases as well as the names of peers and teachers. Much harassment was directed at the presenter, Mr Kurtz, who had been speaking for five hours, and one loathsome comment dared attack his physical appearance.

The one uplifting aspect is that a handful students stood up against the harassment, defending Mr. Kurtz with statements like, “Posting rude comments on here takes no courage at all. What Mr. Kurtz is doing does,” and “That’s enough. Grow up already.” One comment particularity stood out, reflecting on the movie the sophomore class had just watched about bullying just two weeks before in the same theater. It simply stated the film’s title: “Minnesota Nice?”

Some sophomore reactions included comments like, “What did you expect? After all we are just disgustingly vulgar sophomores.”

What exactly are we living up to if that is our attitude?

“We could say we shouldn’t have used Today’s Meet in the first place,” said Pre-AP English 10 teacher Mrs. Joelle Reiling, “but it was a great tool.”

Teachers expected us as young adults to value the privileges given to us and use them appropriately. They had high expectations for us as we went into a meeting that was to introduce a yearlong research project, something that would certainly test the capabilities of the class of 2015. The teachers (who seem to be receiving more flack than some of the worst perpetrators) believed that our class could be different, and be able to take on a serious project like this.

Were they mistaken? Perhaps, but why should we be angry with them for caring about us enough to challenge us to our full potential? The reason the teachers seemed to idly stand by as comments that would make the most vulgar of sailors cringe flew by on the screen, is because they had faith.

“We care so much about you,” said Mr. Kurtz, the courageous speaker himself. Comparatively, the sophomores did nothing because they were scared.

The teachers could have easily shut it down (which they did for 6th hour) but they saw something more inside of us; they were giving us a shot at redemption, and blame should not be put on the teachers who thought we could aspire to be something greater.

Ironically, what seems to be least mentioned in this entire ordeal is the reason for the meeting in the first place. The whole idea was to introduce the Passion Project, a yearlong research project encouraging students to dedicate themselves to a topic near to their hearts.

Mr. Kurtz courageously offered his personal story about his struggle with stuttering to demonstrate the kind of passion we should harbor for this project. The collective disrespect of our class as Mr. Kurtz bravely exposed to us the burdens he carries only proves how much this project is needed.

“You, and by you I mean the collective sophomore class, demonstrated that day just why we need to have a passion project: to stop this kind of behavior,” said Mr. Kurtz.

Mrs. Reiling added, “This is a catalyst for the discussion we need to be having.”

Flourishes of tweets and Facebook statuses came in from upperclassmen and alumni, directed towards the sophomores who were bystanding and the ones who bullied relentlessly on TodaysMeet.com. Their messages were valid, however, would they be the ones who would’ve stood up and intervened? We need to ask ourselves if this is a situation involving the sophomores of Edina High School or if this is a situation involving a whole generation.

Head over to YouTube and you’ll find the meanest of comments on almost every video, tearing the confidence of others to shreds. But what you won’t find are comments that intervene, the ones you do find you can count on your fingers. It’s so easy to hop on the bandwagon and go along with what the majority is doing.

It’s called peer pressure.

EHS Assistant Principal Jenny Johnson talked about this point at issue. “It’s hard to be the first to stand up,” she said. Even though our class blew our first impression, there’s still promise for redemption. “In general, it’s hard to intervene. I know [the sophomores] can do it because they learned a lesson the hard way,” she added.

Our job now is to “not be passive, express disgust, and initiate the dialogue about what happened and make it a part of conversation,” said Mrs. Reiling. Don’t be a bystander. Being a bystander can meet witnessing an event as it takes place and doing nothing. But it is still possible to be a bystander after the fact, as Mrs. Reiling pointed out, “We remain bystanders if we don’t speak up now. It’s still going on, it isn’t over yet.”

This atrocious turn of events is nothing short of detestable, shameful, and vile. This doesn’t just affect the sophomores, it affects an entire generation. From social networking to face to face confrontation, the whole school is upset with us. But at the same time, only a few deadbeats really gave us this reputation.

We can only hope that this obnoxious and offensive happening can be forgotten.

We can only hope that the criminals behind this are punished, and the rest of us will do a better job of standing up for the few, if something this disgusting ever happens again.

We can only hope that someday, we will all show our moral and more mature sides.

We can only hope that someday our legacy may fulfill what is expected by our forefathers. But until then, all we can do is ask for redemption, and promise a better future.