What is the best way to keep a rivalry going but not take it too far? A few Manhattan High students and administrators met with Junction City students and administrators to try to work through this problem.

This year the animosity the two schools showed towards each other strayed away from being fun and turned toward aggression.

“What does rivalry really mean?” senior Josie Hilgers said. “It just needs to change so it is more healthy and more of a fun environment for everyone. It doesn’t need to be mean, that’s not what the rivalry is about. It’s about a competitive nature on the court and the games are hyped up because of it.”

There have been many examples of the animosity between the two schools, especially in this last year. A few Junction City students made T-shirts for the rivalry football game this year that had profanity hidden on the back in a crossword puzzle, while Manhattan students fired back with vulgar social media posts.

“The whole week leading up to it we had to deal with theme issues, along with other social media issues going on so it became more about fighting with Junction than playing the game,” Hilgers said.

This meeting of students and administrators is just a start for the two schools but hopefully with more meetings, the two schools can come together over common goals.

“We are looking to create reform,” Hilgers said. “We are trying to amend our rivalry to make it more healthy, and that starts with the underclassmen not the seniors as much.”