By Rebecca Tolpin ’14, Staff Writer

People do not personally choose their surnames; however, if an individual’s surname starts with a “Z,” his life is fated to be defined by waiting in long lines and receiving everything last. In many schools and work buildings, supervisors rarely start with the end of the alphabet. In reality, it would truly be a miracle if they did.

Having a last name at the bottom of the alphabet is not pleasant. Roger Dooley, co-founder of College Confidential, describes, “the last name effect”. The effect begins with kids at the end of the alphabet standing at the end of a line. The response of the students, in order to compensate for the time spent in the back of the line, is to snatch the item they have waited for very quickly, while those at the front of the line have a slower reaction. Time Magazine found that this occurrence may start in the sandbox but continues to craigslist and even auction houses.

In Newark Academy the last name effect applies when students must wait in alphabetical order for yearbooks, diplomas, awards, and other special gifts. While students with last names of A or B are flipping happily through their yearbooks, and even finished looking at them, the students with last names Y or Z have just gripped their yearbooks eagerly and started tearing through the pages to catch up.

Another main case of alphabet discrimination at Newark Academy is that students with names at the front of the alphabet receive nicer, better lockers. The first exhibit is in the 6^th grade where students at the beginning of the alphabet receive large, red lockers, and those at the end must use half-sized cubbies. Many 6^th graders find this inconvenient during their first adjustment year at NA.

Another example is in the 10^th grade where students at the end of the alphabet have lockers in the language hallway, while students at the beginning of the alphabet have their lockers in the math/English hall. This small phenomenon may very well change the social dynamic of students depending on their proximity. Moreover, students placed in remote areas such as the arts wing must spend valuable time traversing the distance to their lockers instead of choosing the best seat in class or taking a test.

It is understandable that over time people grow accustomed to hearing their name called last or first, but is it possible that they could ever switch roles? It would be an interesting experiment to see how this would work on ever growing scales, from attendance to year book distribution. It is my hope that some day in the bright future, the last-called students will not have to wait as disadvantaged citizens of the school.