This year, New Trier has extended the historically senior exclusive Green Team merch to all grades. Many people don’t think this is fair because all other classes needed to wait until their senior year to participate in this tradition. I remember the first Friday of senior year, when we all got together in our Green Team sweatshirts and bonded over the nicknames we chose. Some believe that selling Green Team merch to all grade levels takes away excitement from this senior experience. Let me tell you why I don’t think these new sales really matter.

The customizable sweatshirts are still senior only- and I believe these custom sweatshirts are the most important aspect of the tradition. As juniors, students get excited and many conversations center around coming up with creative ideas for Green Team names. Last year, people even tried using chat GPT to come up with their names- a strategy that rarely worked. Then, when senior year does finally come, people make a night of hanging out together, talking about senior year events, and cutting the sleeves off of their sweatshirts.

When I think of Green Team, the memories I have while wearing the sweatshirts are what I think about, like wearing them on Fridays and matching with all my friends, or at white-out football games where the entire senior class is together and united with one thing. The sweatshirts are like a rite of passage.

However, I don’t think about other Green Team merch. Honestly, I don’t have any other Green Team merch like sweatpants or t-shirts. To me, and I think most other people, it’s just not the centerpiece of the tradition. No important memories are tied with other items.

So, why should we care if other classes get the merch? If anything, the merch is a small way of helping other classes stay excited for when their senior sweatshirt comes in the mail.  As of now, the senior sweatshirts are still only for the seniors, and it looks like it will be staying that way. I don’t mind if other grades have Green Team merch like sweatpants or tank tops, because Green Team is less about the brand and more about the memories associated with the last year of high school.