Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Romance on The Hill

Eric Roberts ’25 Lead Features Editor and Veena Scholand ’26 Assistant Features Editor

As the new term starts and students begin to lose focus on academics, they turn to one shared goal: finding love. With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, Hilltoppers are taking extra time to reflect on the uncontrollable romantic craze surrounding campus.

To commemorate the season of love, the cafeteria has promised to exclusively serve Sweethearts, the small candy hearts inscribed with positive messages. Jeet Bhatnagar ’25 shared that he supports the new change, noting, “It’s nice to know that the dining staff really appreciate me. The Sweethearts are a constant

reminder of campus unity.” Others, however, feel dissatisfied with the nutritional value these food items provide. Steven McDonald ’25 said, “How am I supposed to have enough energy for sports practices after having three small candies?” Krish Agarwal ’25 agreed with McDonald, revealing that for him, “it’s getting harder and harder to drop 30+ points per game in IMBL.”

With the number of student relationships rapidly increasing leading up to Valentine’s Day, the halls have been flooded with roses, causing devastating physical damage to students. Vidwan Aryan ’27 noted, “I went to the trainers to wrap my injured ankle, but I had to wait until all the other kids who slipped on the roses were treated. On my way out, I slipped again.” Josie Lipcan ’25 endured a similar tragedy on her way to the HARPS lab, tripping and spilling important experimental materials she had been developing for months. She shared, “I’ve been swimming my entire life, but even I can’t make it through the flower-filled hallways.” To combat the flower floods, StuCo has partnered with the Natural Disaster Relief Club to raise money and awareness about this serious issue.

Students are also divided on whether the morning Assembly DJs’ decision to only play romantic music is beneficial for the community. Jesse Lior ’27 stated, “It’s not really my style, but it’s nice that it reflects the current campus vibe right now.” Lucas Llovera ’25 said, “it seems like they only play ‘Adore You’ by Harry Styles and some Ed Sheeran. Where’s the variety?” Some students are completely opposed to the music choices, wishing the DJs could return to non-love-related music. Nathan Fekadu ’26 said, “If they’re not playing ‘FEIN,’ then I don’t want to hear it.”

As more students at Hopkins begin to couple up, the public displays of affection (PDA) rate at Hopkins is said to have gone up by five thousand percent. Regarding the uptick, Kriti Patel ’25 said, “Man, I pulled up to lunch the other day and immediately lost my appetite when I saw all these couples holding hands in the lunch line.” While Patel doesn’t approve of students’ newfound romantic behavior, others like Iman Khan ’26 shared the opposite sentiment. She said, “I like seeing some of the couples at Hopkins. I think it’s cute.”

The influx of individuals seeking a romantic partner has entirely eliminated the smell of fresh air on
campus by increasing the number of students who wear cologne or perfume to school. Several students have complained about the overpowering scents in their classes, with Andrew Keisman ’26 saying, “I couldn’t stop sneezing in ACIII last week because the girl I was sitting next to had doused herself in perfume. She said it was to impress a guy she was seeing at school.” The perfume epidemic has even begun to penetrate students’ brains via the ear, making their skulls soft and inducing headaches. Lena Wang ’27 shared that, “I know this year is supposed to be about finding your [significant other], but giving eeryone around you a massive headache from wearing too much Dior Sauvage isn’t the way to do it.” Patel noted that this may even be “contributing to the uptick in students senior sliding” compared to previous years.

Though the opinions of students vary on this new era of love at Hopkins, the overall happiness of the student body is at an all-time high, and stress levels are at a record low. Is this new romantic atmosphere a distraction from our work? Or is this Valentine season what we all needed to metaphorically stop and smell the flowers during our time in high school?

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Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Romance on The Hill