Walking in to school on the first day sophomore Rylee Stone walked to the courtyard to reunite with friends with a new short haircut, bleached hair and a binder on his chest. This would be his first year identifying as a boy on campus, joining a handful of other transgender students at school. 

“Even though this is my first year being a guy it’s not the first year being on my mind,” Stone said. “When I was in seventh grade I remember having a conversation with my mom saying I don’t feel like a girl. It was super late and super emotional and I kind of remember her dismissing it.”  

In the past few years the transgender community has seen a rise in appearance in popular culture. Such a rise can be seen in creation of television series, including “I am Jazz”, a reality show on TLC that highlights the life of a transgender teen, in addition to featured roles such as transgender woman Laverne Cox, who stars in the Netflix series, “Orange is the New Black”.  

The school has also seen a rise in its transgender population, “My first year here to my knowledge there were none, my second year one student came to ask me what bathroom to use then that grew to 12 or 13 students,” social worker Leland Schardt said. 

“My high school experience has been more difficult, especially with the name situation and bathrooms- like having to go out of my way to tell teachers about my name,” sophomore Matt Hammerberg, transgender boy said.  

Similarly, junior Jayson Bickel who identifies as a demi-boy has found it’s the simplest things that become harder.  

“You wouldn’t really think of it like that, even just having a substitute teacher you have to go up to them and explain and come out to them too so they don’t deadname you,” Bickel said.  

Campus has made its own contributions to accommodate students such as the implementation of universal bathrooms which have pleased transgender students.   

“They make me feel a thousand times safer, when Mr. Nelson instituted them I was shocked, I was told by Ms. Schardt on the first day of school and honestly I didn’t believe it, I was ecstatic,” senior Kat Jackson said, who identifies as non-binary. 

As goes without saying, everyone’s experience is different. 

A transition is a transition, it’s not only physical, but emotional and mental. In my head I was still so used to being called a girl and “she” and ‘oh look this is my daughter’ and it’s hard to make the switch,” sophomore Emery Gorder, transgender boy said. “Everything is a transition you still have to go through change. When I first started asking people to call me by my name and pronouns it was something I had to ingrain in myself. Thinking about it is great but thinking about it too much makes you start to overwork yourself and overthink.” 

Being born in the wrong body has a strong impact on the day to day life of these high school students.  

“It’s given me more anxiety, with other students there is always a fear of being bullied,” Hammerberg said.  

For many of the transgender population, it is body dysphoria that is one of the hardest struggles. 

“Dysphoria, it’s like a feeling of discomfort or like your body is wrong or the way people see you or address you is wrong, and so dysphoria has really impacted my mental health throughout my time at school and it’s made things a lot harder like meeting and interacting with new people really difficult,” Jackson said. “Especially if I don’t feel safe with them.” 

Stone regards this year as a true marker of his transition. 

“At school I was kind of nervous, kind of excited to see myself for the first time. The only person who asked about my gender was this one guy who would only look at my boobs,” Stone said. 

Many faculty have attempted progressive movements.  

“In the theatre department they allow me to audition for and play male roles and teachers always use my preferred name, pronouns are a different story for the most part,” Bickel said. 

The Student Advisory Committee (SAC) also hosts quarterly Unity Days, which Jackson, Hammerberg and Bickel have all been involved with, educating those in attendance on the transgender community.  

“I’ve very much enjoyed being a part of SAC, it’s given me chances to educate people on trans everything,” Hammerberg said. 

What’s being established now in high school is the rest of these students lives, “I’m still in the process of coming out, it never ends. I still want people to see me as trans not just a cis male because its not my whole identity,” Gorder said.  

“My high school career has definitely led me to want to help other trans kids that are going through the school system and don’t feel supported or safe and I would like to do something with my life that helps them so being an activist of some kind would be nice, I’ve definitely been impacted by my own experiences to make other kids have better experiences,” Jackson said. 

Despite the school’s efforts there can only be so much to do in a world where being different is still regarded as a fragile topic. 

“There’s a difference between being in public and being at school. It’s always a bunch of strangers but at school it’s strangers who you might have to be friends with. It’s a lot of emotions,” Stone said. 

“For the most part I feel supported by Plant, obviously there are those kids who don’t support it, but they’re everywhere,” Bickel said. 

And following that statement up in regards to Plant support Jackson said, “yes and no, it really depends on the faculty member and the student.” 

The social worker specifically works to make the school community as supportive and accommodating of an environment as possible.  

“We’re working on it by having a support group that meets, universal bathrooms and having trainings for teachers for having transgender students in the classroom,” Schardt said.  

Gender does not equal presentation, and sex does not equal gender.