Prep Posse: Harmful Clique or Product of Human Instinct?

Whether in Grill or out on the Northside academic quad, at the beginning of each year, cliques of incoming preps, most popularly characterized by returning students as “prep posses” are a fixture. But observers of this year’s so-called prep cliques say this year’s group used social media to form their group even before the fall term began.“On the first day of school, pretty much ninety percent of the kids did not know each other except for this one distinct group that already knew each other from Facebook,” prep Arielle Lui said.Meanwhile, mixed sentiments for the benefits and problems with campus cliques has some on campus weighing out its role in shaping the campus climate.Academy counselor and psychologist Christopher Thurber said that the formation of groups like prep posse is a natural response to a new environment and an effort to fit in.“All humans want a feeling of belongingness,” Thurber said. “Being part of a group, whether it's a class, a team, a club or prep posse, helps people feel as if they belong. These feelings counteract feelings of homesickness and social isolation. Group formation is normal; almost all animals from ants to people and most species in between form groups.”But prep Jamie Cassidy said that students part of this year’s prep posse had the intention of isolating themselves from the rest of the prep population when they arrived on campus. She said that one group decided it was even necessary to call themselves the “quad squad” in order to help distinguish their group.“This year’s prep posse is a lot different from previous years because they took it upon themselves to make sure they were the ‘prep posse,’” Cassidy said. “They started calling themselves this on Facebook as the new prep posse.”Senior Robert Conner said that during his four years in Exeter, he has never witnessed a group of students in the prep class name their own group. However, he said that by creating a name for the group, they could perhaps create stronger bonds and provide each other with support.

“There can be a lot of positive and enjoyable outcomes that spring out of well-defined friendship groups such as camaraderie and social and academic support,” Conner said. “So if that involves self-naming, then I think that could be a good thing.”Thurber emphasized, however, that regardless of the benefits the cliques might bring to its members, the exclusive nature is harmful for not only those who are excluded from the group but those who are part of the group as well.“To be a member of an exclusive social group feels good at first. In the back of all members' minds, of course, is a gnawing fear that one could do something to lose membership, become excluded and therefore lose their imaginary status. Most people also know, deep in their hearts, that exclusion is socially corrosive. All that seems painful at the very least, perhaps harmful,” Thurber said. “ I'm not a prep, but I can't imagine that it feels good to any prep, lower, upper, senior or PG to be socially excluded in any way, by anyone.”Upper Julia Bornemann said that prep posse is usually formed before school even starts. While other students sometimes join the group after school year begins, she emphasized that most groups like prep posse are formed among students who already know each other.“It forms because they know each other before school even starts, so they're more inclined to stay together as a group,” Bornemann said.Lui echoed Bornemann’s sentiments and said that usually the first group to be formed gets labeled as the prep posse, and that this year’s prep posse was formed first because the students met over social media.Upper Jun Park said that this desire for belongingness prompts innocent attempts to fit in can eventually lead to the formation of exclusive social groups like the prep posse.“I think prep posse is a result of a large group of new students stimulated by a new environment,” Park said. “Most new students are eager to make as many friends as quickly as possible and that frankly leads to pockets or cliques.”History instructor Aykut Kilinc said that although he noticed unity among each grade in Exeter, the prep class seemed to be closer than the other grades, because they are all new to the school and are eager to meet their peers in the grade.

“I have noticed a lot of class solidarity among each class, preps especially because they will have some level of solidarity within a few weeks or a month or so,” Kilinc said. “The cliques that I have noticed take place within the same age group.”Thurber said that these groups among preps tend to turn into cliques, which might offer social stability and acceptance to only those who are part of the group. He added that while cliques might benefit those who are part of them, the exclusive nature of cliques poses a contradiction to the school’s perception of a healthy student culture.“The problem is when a social group becomes exclusive,” Thurber said. “Then the group has morphed into a clique, posse is a synonym for clique, as I understand it, and cliques are antithetical to the school's motto of non sibi and its philosophy of inclusion.”Lui, however, felt that prep posse is not as exclusive and cliquey as it seems.She noted that once you get to know students who are labeled as a member of the prep posse, you can comfortably interact with them.“They are open for other people to hang out with them, but only if you know them. If you had a class with one of them, then you could go hang out with them. No one would just walk up to them and introduce themselves because they are kind of intimidating. Any huge group of people is intimidating.”Kilinc greed, but also added that these groups tend to dissipate as the year progresses.“[Young] students tend to hang out in small exclusive groups. As you get older you become more confident and can operate in a larger group. But when you are younger and perhaps vulnerable to a certain extent you want to keep it small,” he said.Thurber agreed and attributed the dissolution to the students’ steadily improved social ability. “Older students are usually more mature, feel more socially secure and can more actively embrace our motto of non sibi and our philosophy of inclusion,” Thurber said.