Recently, NC has seen an increase in the number of physical altercations between students during the school day. This increase has been gradual, but noticeable over the last two years since the COVD-19 pandemic. In comparison to NC, Pike High School students’ behavior seems to be similar.

According to Pike government and econ teacher Clay Hypes there have been numerous fights both within and outside of school hours this year.

 “I know the first week of school there were three separate fights, and then at their football game against Ben Davis there was a fight on the football field between kids on the Pike football team. There were fights in the stands and fights in the parking lot after the game, so I would say in total I’ve heard of eight different fights at least,” Hypes said.

Pike junior Braeden Norris doesn’t let the fights distract him while he’s at school.

“I’ve been at Pike since freshman year and I’m a junior now so I kind of got used to it. I just walk past it, I’m not the type to pull out my phone and record, just let it go by my shoulders,” Norris said.

Norris plays basketball and tries to avoid altercations to ensure he keeps his spot on the team.

“I always thought about the bigger picture, I got basketball to take care of so I don’t want to be getting suspended so I really just move past it,” Norris said.

In light of the increase of physical altercations, Hypes believes it is important to continue to emphasize the importance of solving differences peacefully and hopes to instill the communication skills needed to do so in his students.

“In general I think a lot of students look to fight just because it’s a misunderstanding between each other. What I always tell my kids is typically if you have a conversation with someone and you actually listen to them instead of just trying to talk over them, a lot of times you can end that stuff before it even escalates into a fight,” Hypes said.

In comparison to North Central, Hypes claims the involvement of the administration is much more prominent there than at Pike.

“I would say at North Central, I feel like the administration is a little bit more present, so there’s less opportunity for those fights to even really start because teachers are always in the hallways and administrators are walking around. Over at Pike I don’t really feel like there’s as much presence of the school administrators so I feel like it’s easier for things to start and then they have to end it, whereas at North Central they sort of end it before anything gets going,” Hypes said.