Like most high schools, Mountain View has stereotypes. Put aside who is cooler, sportier, or smartest, there’s still the age old question—who’s better when it comes to the battle of the sexes?

Home economics is for girls and architecture is for guys. Right? Well, that’s what everyone deems as the usual.

But now, the unusual is growing more rapidly. Boys can be found leaping and turning in dance class while girls can be found slamming people on to wrestling mats. “Students are willing to look past class stereotypes and really look at their futures,” interior design and fashion teacher Gene Yundt said.

Senior Morgan Harding is one of two females in the engineering program at the school. That’s not stopping her from fully excelling in the class taught by Loid Sherwood.

“Being a girl helps a lot in this class because being the minority in the program can get you more scholarships,” Harding said. She believes engineering appeals mostly to guys because it involves fixing, building, and playing with big machines.

More girls might try the class and see how they like it. “But,” Harding says, “only if they have somewhat of an interest in math and science.”

As for cheerleading, you may want to have some interest in stunting, being perky and wearing short skirts…except in junior Evan English’s case. English is the only male on the varsity cheer squad, but he’s not complaining.

Cheerleaders all work hard and get to be involved. If that’s not enough to pump up more guys to try out, getting to be around all the ladies should do it. “That’s one of the best parts! But I also get a lot of chances to be spotlighted in routines, which is also nice,” English said.

English gets treated equally despite his gender, except during “squad bonding” which is when all the girls do each other’s hair among other things. Still, English believes the opportunity to get scholarships and develop a lot of friendships makes everything worth it and before saying “it’s not a sport” more guys might try cheerleading.

No one can deny that wrestling is a sport. It involves intense conditioning and maintaining a weight to participate in a match. At most wrestling meets, the girls you see aren’t actually the ones on that mat. That’s not the case for freshman Lauren DeVan.

“It’s not a sport where you just stand around and watch a ball move…it’s a sport where you get slammed,” DeVan said. She is Mountain View’s only female wrestler.

Wrestling since sixth grade, DeVan has always been the only girl on her team. “At first, I thought there’d be at least one girl that would also be wrestling. Now, another girl would be nice, but I’ve gotten used to being the only one now,” DeVan said.

DeVan has proven that being the only girl won’t hold her back. While wrestling at Lewis and Clark Middle School DeVan was recognized as their “Athlete of the Week.” “Wrestling is hard and it’s not easy in any way, but it’s just something I do and something I’ve really enjoyed,” DeVan said.

Along with Harding, English and DeVan, other students are participating in activities that their gender isn’t typically associated with.

“Dance Ed is a lot of fun and we get to focus on many different aspects of choreography and dance,” senior Brandon Waters said. Waters has been dancing for as long as he can remember and doesn’t mind usually being the only guy participating.

Males are also showing more of an interest in classes like fashion and interior design. “A lot of males take these classes because they’re forward thinking and it’s good because it can get them further in their future,” Yundt said.

If you think about it, some of the most popular fashion designers are men such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Interior design can also help with an engineering based class. “Many of the guys in interior design are also in an architecture or pre-engineering class,” Yundt said.

Yundt also teaches child development. She especially enjoys seeing males participate in the class because she believes it really shows men who will grow to care about being a good paternal figure.

“In the first day of class, I always tell the girls to look around. When they only see four guys, I explain to them that they are the ones they should be dating…because those are the guys that care,” Yundt explains.

It’s not impossible to look past the typical, and it’s not hard to be different or try something totally new. So far, it seems guys are the least afraid to get in touch with their feminine side. Girls, maybe you should look a little harder for your inner wo-man.