There is a whole host of rules Williston students have been inadvertently following since day one.

Unspoken rules are a daily factor in every Williston student’s life. From manners in the dining hall, to what route you choose when walking into the Chapel, there are actions we all take for a reason that not everyone knows.

Wherever life has taken us, there have always been rules and assumed manners for how we go about doing regular things. In high school, students are at an age where it feels like every action they take is watched and judged. Learning to be aware of those rules and complying with them is an important part of fitting in.

Michael Saliba, a senior boarder from New York City, believes unspoken rules are driven more by respect than anything else.

“You definitely got to say hi to Ms. Motyka, because how do you just walk into the Schoolhouse and not do that?” Michael said. These manners also carry into the dining hall, where students often have to choose their battles.

“I feel like if you see someone skipping the line at the grill, you just don’t say anything,” he said.

Vivian Walker, a senior day student from Westfield, Mass., noticed that some rules are simply tradition winning over practicality.

“Nobody ever uses the side doors on the Chapel, everyone always files into the middle,” she said. “We could get into assembly two or three times as fast if we used the side doors, but everyone knows that’s just not what we do.”

Several rules have been passed down for years—but since they are unspoken, so many are simply forgotten over time. Vivian believes that the reason for this loss of superstition stems, like many things, from the 2020 pandemic.

“I think a lot of traditions usually get passed down from upperclassmen, but because of Covid, there was a disconnect between them and the underclassmen—so many traditions ended up getting lost,” she said.

Sarah McCullagh, a 2010 graduate and Williston alum from Easthampton, Mass., recalls multiple unspoken rules from her time at Williston, some of which have since been let go.

[Editor’s Note: McCullagh is the author’s cousin.]

“You weren’t supposed to step on this square of sidewalk in front of Ford, especially not in your senior year, because you’d get kicked out or something,” she said. “You know, bad omens.”

Sarah explained how the tradition of painting the lion in the main quad could only happen at night, “under the cover of darkness,” she commented. “My soccer team got in trouble, unofficially, for painting it during the day once.”

Some rules are easier said than followed. Michael realized this while reconsidering his thoughts on the dining hall grill line.

“Remember a minute ago when I said if people skip the line, you don’t say anything? That’s completely false,” he added. “I always say something.”

Turns out, unspoken rules change pretty quickly.