The Friday of Homecoming at Central was dominated by groups. The crowd in white cheered as their peers performed at the assembly. The hallway decorations of stars and construction paper were provided by clubs who stayed after school. Communities, big and small, dominated the day.

And yet, last month, Central’s school improvement plan stated that only 49% of students responded favorably to the “Sense of Belonging” section on the 2022 Panorama Survey. Panorama surveys are taken twice annually by Central’s entire student body, gathering data on the school’s “climate.”

An anonymous Oct. 3 survey of 1,237 Central students conducted by the Central Times and Central’s administration returned markedly different results: 77.8% of students responded favorably to the same question on belonging.

“The Panorama Survey has more than one question, so I’ve been thinking about things like survey fatigue [affecting the results],” Principal Jackie Thornton said. “I don’t have a lot of answers about the disparity [of] the data, but I’m happy that there’s a difference.”

Whether it’s 51% or 22.2% of students who didn’t respond favorably, the question remains: what about the kids who don’t belong?

Of the 275 students who did not respond favorably on the CT survey, the top three reasons why were that the students: “don’t like school generally” (137 responses); “don’t fit into the pervasive culture at Central” (116 responses); and that they “don’t feel included by peers” (75 responses). Respondents were able to select more than one response.

“I feel like [Naperville] is a very heteronormative society,” said a queer student at Central who has been granted anonymity for this story. “I noticed very early on that there were cliques, especially in larger classes like Gym.”

The student said being queer made it harder to find community because it’s not the societal norm.

“I would do a lot of traditionally girly things just to be seen as normal and [conform] to the societal norm, even though I did not feel normal within myself,” they said. “I feel like this is a common experience with a lot of transgender people or queer people [where you’re] just trying to go so far from who you actually are that you lose your sense of identity.”

The student changed their identity at the beginning of junior year. Although they knew transitioning would be isolating in Central’s society, they found that they made more connections through the experience.

“A lot of people don’t have that experience of just not wanting to be who you are,” the student said. “[But] one of my best friends is a trans man, and we bonded over the shared experience of not feeling like we belonged in that respect. I was connected with more queer people and they were more than supportive. And I feel like at that point, I truly found myself with the support of other people.”

Junior Daniela Rozier also commented on Central’s pervasive culture and how that can inhibit comfort in expressing individuality.

“It’s not [like] people are disrespectful and don’t like each other; I feel like a lot of people [at] Central have this really deep fear of rejection or potentially being made fun of, and that’s probably a reason why a lot of people feel either out of place or not accepted,” Rozier said.

Aiming to combat this, Central’s administration made student belonging a key Social Emotional Learning goal in this year’s School Improvement Plan. Giving out prizes to promote school spirit, removing cell phone usage during class and recording club participation are just some of the ways that staff has targeted belonging.

“Our goal is for all of these classroom communities to be a place where every student is saying ‘yes, I see myself in this community,’” Thornton said. “In terms of attendance and cell phones, [it] really is about nurturing that community in each classroom and a sense of belonging for each student [by] eliminating some of the distractions that [hindered] a student’s ability to do that.”

Sam Szopinski, Central’s Dean of Student Activities, introduced new customs to spread joy among the student body.

“We started fanny pack Friday, where kids hand out freebies to highlight different clubs,” Szopinski said. “If people are dressed up in [the Friday] theme, we pass things out. I’ve really been trying to get people to feel involved [by] incorporating those minor things.”

With the data from Panorama and the CT survey, Thornton and the rest of Central administration will use the two survey results to continue to improve Central.

“I really do feel like part of being successful at Naperville Central is [to] find your people, find your passion,” Thornton said. “I do think that most kids [feel] like they belong here, but I’m not gonna be happy until [everyone does.]”