‘Tis the season for flower blooms, warm weather and every student’s favorite, AP testing. The week of May 1 tends to perform a sneak attack upon AP testing students due to the end-of-the-year excitement among the entirety of the student body. Although these tests are surely a ball of stress, there has to be some way to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A tradition since around the year 2010, AP testing t-shirts are making a comeback once again. Though some alterations have been made to the design process and overall production of the shirts this year, they always seem to provide some sort of encouragement and motivation among the students.

“Up until last year due to COVID, the students have always been in charge of coming up with their own shirt designs to present to me and the class so we can have a vote,” AP Chemistry teacher Mr. Theisen said. “Now, Mrs. Weiseler takes charge with the design matters and distributes the shirts to the class when ready.”

For years, the t-shirt wearing has been apparent for STEM related classes only at South, with special consideration to the AP Statistics class as well. Started as a completely student-driven production, both the students and teachers always look forward to AP t-shirt season.

“It’s all about unifying the class,” AP and Organic Chemistry teacher Mrs. Weiseler said. “Honestly, I think wearing the shirts on midterm and finals week, as well as the actual AP test day really helps to bring these kids together as a class and motivate each other through.”

As time goes on with this AP testing trademark, the origin of the tradition of the shirts can be easily overlooked, or plainly forgotten. No one knows if it was a specific teacher who started this trend, or if a student came forward with this creative idea.

“I used to always say the phrase ‘what’s in your dish’ to my students,” Theisen said. “And one day, I came into the classroom and a bunch of kids were wearing t-shirts that said ‘what’s in your dish’ and it just went over so well, that now it has just become deliberate.”

As important as it is to get the teachers’ perspective on the t-shirts, getting to understand the effectiveness of them on the actual students holds an immense amount of importance as well.

“For me, I feel like wearing the shirts on important testing days gives me a boost of confidence with the certain subject matter,” Ava Oskui ‘23 said. “I feel extremely one with my classmates, and I would definitely say that they make getting through the classes themselves a bit easier.”