Dear WKYT and other Lexington News Outlets,

For far too long we’ve been discriminated upon because of our school. We are defenders, and more importantly, we are proud of who we are. Yet, because of years upon years of false stereotypes, Bryan Station High School is perceived as a “2nd tier school” and possibly dangerous in the eyes of most of Lexington. The news often is a large contributing factor to these stereotypes. Many articles published support and continue these false stereotypes. This is harmful in many ways as it negatively affects student morale, scares future students, the reports are over dramatized, disrespectful, and completely fails to highlight the many accomplishments that we have done.

First off, constantly putting our school under fire severely affects student morale. When it is repeated that you go to a bad school, you start feeling this way. It creates a negative culture as a result of this. We have to live with carrying a stigma of going to “Bryan Station”. This negative culture in turn has more ripple effects. As our Interim Principal suggests “we need a culture change” However, this is impossible with negativity coming from the media.

Another prime example of harmful impacts of negative reporting is the fear of applying for programs at Bryan Station. Bryan Station is proudly the home of many great programs such as the NAF Academy of Information Technology, StationArts, Spanish Immersion, and more. These are wonderful programs, yet many students disregard them because they are set at Bryan Station. This occurs very often and does not give these programs an equal chance at recruitment. This also can contribute to low test scores as bright students may be more hesitant towards picking a Bryan Station program compared to one at another school.

Many reports and statistics are over dramatized and false. Reports from earlier in the summer that Bryan Station has more fights than all the other high schools combined is a very inacurate figure, and anybody who has spent more than 20 minutes in any of Fayette County’s high schools know this. On occasion, you have a few students who make poor choices. Bryan Station is a diverse school home to nearly 2,000 students. A vast majority of those students are good, hardworking people. You have a small pocket just like every school does that do not make the best of choices. The media often capitalizes on that and blames the entire school making a large scene about danger and Bryan Station. Even in the recent report by WKYT, the fight from last year was brought up again, despite consequences being thoroughly handled by the administration and law enforcement. A good majority of issues highlighted in the recent report also are going to happen at any high school as our Principal, Mr. McMillan pointed out. If you set up a camera in front of high population of teenagers, it can almost be assumed that a few out of the crowd are going to do something absurd out of nature. But it’s just a small percentage of people making a bad choice, when all the other students are behaving. The same goes with the footage of students with hoods and headphones in. The issue often is addressed immediately by staff in the hallway and the majority of the students are obeying the rule. Because of selective editing, the story is told from a different perspective as the students making bad choices is the majority, skewing things way out of proportion.

Also, the continued negativity towards Bryan Station is disrespectful to us. We have to feel the stigma carried around. Bryan Station is blessed to have truly some of the best teachers. These are teachers who come to school everyday and don’t let obstacles get in their way of teaching. The teachers who do so much for us and really care about our education. The talented staff of Bryan Station is unbelievable, and the negative reporting makes their job harder as it degrades morale. Students also have caused Bryan Station to produce great things. The recent WKYT report was here on a Wednesday, for three class changes. Every Wednesday the IT Academy is required to dress in professional attire. If you were to walk around that day you would witness over 160 teenagers dressed as if they were about to go to a professional meeting instead of classes. This unfortunately could only be seen in the distant background of some shots, shots that are highlighting a few negative things. Everything Bryan Station does produces greatness from our Athletics winning championships; to our Art’s Department stunning visual displays, dances, and productions; and award winning apps created within Bryan Station by Bryan Station students. Although while this goes on, the focus is decided on two students who had a scuffle in the hallway over something ridiculous.

Finally, the articles and reports are missing one key element. Us, the students. The whole point of school is for us to be educated and to mature for the real world. These key elements affect us directly and the most, yet our voice is never heard. From now on this changes. We are taking a stand to let our voices be heard. We are sick and tired of being criticized constantly.

Through our voices we are petitioning the media to help us turn this around. We no longer will stand for Bryan Station to have a negative connotation in the mind of Lexington. Together we can highlight and celebrate the many accomplishments and put an end to the constant stream of negative dramatized information.

Sincerely,
The Proud Students of Bryan Station High School