I’m Leo Auernig. I am a guy.

Cool, you might think. Maybe you the reader, are a guy too. So what’s the big deal? 

Well, I’m a guy, who likes girls. No reason to beat around the bush. It’s true.

That means a lot of things, but for me, it means I get dressed in the morning, try to smell good, smile, try and turn on the charm, and even listen to certain music. And on several occasions have developed hobbies, personality traits, and learned songs on the guitar on the the same very basis. All in hopes that my efforts will make a girl go my way.

But, boys and girls differ. Obviously, and I couldn’t help but wonder, is this working? Or are these all just ridiculous efforts? No answer could be drawn without testimonies from the source in this situation. So I went ahead and asked some girls what they thought was attractive for a boy here at Timpview. And heads up, if you run with a backpack on, you might want to slow down. 

Whether they were being truthful, or just very modest to sound kind or whatever, they didn’t say they liked baggy pants or certain clothes or colognes. Unpromptedly, they all said they just like clean. Senior Sammy Reeves stressed the point, “Looking like you’ve showered”, demonstrated value to her as she could tell an effort was made. It didn’t matter what hoodie you had on, as long as it didn’t smell bad. Groomed, Showered, and Clean were recurring words in every interview, and each girl got there on their own. Junior Jane Collins accurately summed up the poll results with, “I love a clean boy”.

However, I polled the girls on two aspects of one’s attractiveness. Style, and Personality. I don’t know how, but in a non-competitive open-ended interview, personality won. 

“Personality beats style,” said Juniors Star Lossee and Eva Gerstner, and while no one gave that an Amen, they said it as someone should’ve.

Where they couldn’t tell me what pants or shoes they thought were attractive, the girls were able to give me genuine answers with real specific examples when it came to personality. Kindness to family and friends, outgoing personalities in general, and humor were outliers. Outgoing kindness and personality traits, like things as simple as saying hey to people in the halls, were crucial parts of each answer. Simple kind acts portray confidence and,  “make a boy approachable” according to Junior Hazel Weaver. Senior Sammy Reeves later questioned, “What’s the point of coming to school if you are going to be mean and not say hi to people?”. And I can do nothing but agree with that, we all enjoy our school experience when we take time to engage and interact with others. 

The importance of kindness to family and friends was also expressed as the girls mentioned it shows a more true side of a boy’s self. A boy can be as nice to a girl as he wants, but how he treats his friends and family is the whole honest image of what the boy’s personality is really like as how he treats the people he spends the most time with.

To backtrack, earlier I slandered the action of running with a backpack on. If you just thought that was a joke that didn’t land, I really wish it was. On several occasions, I have found myself in a dead sprint in the halls. As I have gotten older it’s all slowed down, but my backpack is always there with me. One girl early on mentioned towards the end of her interview that running with a backpack on would immediately turn her away from a boy. Highly intrigued, I began asking every girl if they felt the same way in the interview. They unanimously agreed that running with a backpack on was a big no-no. Sorry trackstar, better luck next time.

The likeness of attraction has been the basis for multi-billion dollar companies like Facebook, but here at Timpview, it might mean something different. It influences students in what classes they take, where they sit, and how they act. And that’s not a bad thing, it’s just where we are in our life being this age. But it pretty accurately summarizes what we will do for that same attraction. 

What this whole project taught me is that if a girl likes me, it doesn’t come down to the music I listen to. While the little things can matter, they matter the most when the people who get you appreciate them. Taking time to find things authentic to you will always be rewarding.

So to wrap up, I’m gonna do me, and I think that you should do you. Whether it’s running with a backpack on, or singing out loud, we are all happier when we find ourselves comfortable in our situations. And at some point in time, people will be attracted to you because you are unapologetically you, and those are the relationships that mean the most. German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche would say, “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself”.