Wear What You Want

Since the founding of the Northwest Academy, a formal dress code has never been instated, giving students the freedom to wear the clothes they want.

“We’ve never had a dress code, I don’t believe in it,” Mary Folberg Head of School at Northwest Academy, said. “I don’t think it’s very respectful to people, telling them what to wear.”

Folberg does not want the students at the Northwest Academy to suffer a suppression of personal style. She trusts the students to know where to draw the line.

“I think students are capable of having good judgment in regard to how they dress.” Folberg said. “I don’t believe that just because in the past if one person did something they are not supposed to, that everyone has to have rules against what they can and cannot do. That’s how rules, and laws even, are made.”

While a lack of dress code may conjure up the image of students wearing less and less, some people at the Northwest Academy take it the other direction.

Pearce Hyatt, a freshman at the Northwest Academy has taken to dressing up, often in a suit and tie, to come to school. He believes it creates a more serious work environment at the school if people are dressed nicer.

“Dressing nice is much better for a professional atmosphere,” Hyatt said. “Dress for success eh? When people dress nicer it creates a sense that this is a nicer place.”

Sarah Hatcher, a sophomore at the Northwest Academy also believes that not having a dress code in place makes it easier.

“I believe that there are many forms of expression, clothes being one of them,” Hatcher said. “Just looking around, there are many different styles of clothes just in this room, and that is good.”

Julia Cain, College Counselor and Registrar at the Northwest Academy, has mixed feelings on the lack of a dress code at the Northwest Academy.

“I love that we don’t have a dress code, it’s important to be able to express yourself,” Cain said. “But I do wish some of the girls would wear a little bit more clothes. I know that makes me sound like a crazy old school marm, but it is a distraction.”

Cain believes that people can still be themselves without showing so much skin and distracting other people.

“It’s important for girls to focus on why they are here and take it down a notch, “Cain said. “You don’t have to dress like you’re at the beach.”

David Wagstaff, Dean of Students, is also very strongly against having a dress code of any kind.

“I am completely against having a dress code,” Wagstaff said. “I think that it’s up to young people to decide what is right for them to wear. If someone does wear something that is inappropriate, I would hope their peers would bring their attention to it.”

Wagstaff said that when he was in high school, was forced to abide by a dress code.

“I had long hair, straight back,” Wagstaff said. “My nickname was Tarzan. Long hair was viewed as something only homosexuals would have. I was continually targeted with these rumors that I was a homosexual. In a place without a dress code like here, that doesn’t happen.”

Henry Sullivan, another freshman at the Northwest Academy, believes that sometimes the lack of dress code can create a slightly distracting environment.

“Yeah, it’s distracting when for instance a girl comes to school wearing something, but I don’t really mind,” Sullivan said.