I’m so sick of hearing the stereotypes of App State as if they’re a bad thing. Listen here: college is college. There are people who do drugs and drink and dress certain ways but honestly I can’t tell you how many times I’m in a situation where I’m explaining that I go to App and someone follows up with, “there’s a lot of weed up there.” Yeah? There’s probably a lot of weed where you go to school. There’s a lot of weed everywhere, it’s 2016. Stop acting like all App State students do is smoke up.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me who is bothered by the stereotypes. I’m not suggesting all the stereotypes are negative: I know App is known for having some of the most sustainable, environmentally conscious and liberal students. I’m proud of that. But all of the negative stereotypes are starting to overpower the positive! People don’t seem to care if we’re sustainable. From my experience, people seem to think that we’re shoving our sustainability in everyone’s faces like overbearing vegans. “Hello, my name is Krista I go to App State and I’m more sustainable than you are.” I’m pretty certain that’s not how 99.9 percent of the population at App State feels about themselves. Really we just love our school a lot. Since when is school pride a bad thing?

App State is a beautiful place. There are a lot of great professors, great university employees and great students. It’s ridiculous to marginalize App State students strictly as potheads or “dirty hippies” because we’re more than that. You always hear about people begging to end stereotypes of other religions, cultures, ethnicities, etc. Why would it not extend to college students? I know people who smoke weed, and I know people who I suppose “fit the stereotype” of hippie, but they aren’t just a hippie. They’re smart, they’re kind and they’re a hell of a lot nicer than you are if you’re refusing to acknowledge App State students as more than what you hear about online.