I hated my 3rd-grade uniform at Westside—the colors and style were awful. When I wore a non-uniform hoodie the next day, I got dress-coded. Every time I wore a hoodie and put the hood up after that, they made me take it off or lock it away.
As I got older, I started to notice how unfair and biased the dress code really was, especially as a girl. It felt like female students were constantly being singled out and scrutinized over the smallest things, while boys rarely faced the same level of policing for what they wore. Instead of letting us focus on learning, the rules made it feel like our bodies and clothing choices were always treated as a distraction or a problem.
When I moved on to middle school, the strictness around uniforms and hoodies only seemed to get worse. Even when the classrooms were freezing or I just wanted to feel comfortable, wearing a simple hoodie was treated like a major offense. Between the rigid uniform requirements and the constant battles over keeping a hood down or taking a sweatshirt off completely, it felt like we weren't allowed any personal expression at all.
