Graduates tended to go on the respected Ivy League schools and state universities; students had access to top notch equipment and facilities; and their sports program was the envy of the region. Football in particular played a vital role in the community, providing an outlet of pride in an otherwise middle class, average community. This focus on athletic accomplishment led to a situation in the community that favored athletes over regular students. An unspoken, but very real, hierarchy formed with athletes and preppy rich kids at the top, virtually everyone else in the middle and a bottom group made up of drug users, nerds, and outcasts. It was this group of bottom dwellers that Harris and Klebold found themselves in their entire high school career. Their affinity for dark clothes, satanic metal music and overall "outsider" vibe insured that they would be rejected by the ruling class of jocks that adhered to more traditional values. .
While not entirely different from other high schools around the country, interviews with former students after the attacks have shed some light on the dark side of Columbine. In his book Comprehending Columbine, author Ralph Larkin conducted scores of interviews with Columbine graduates in an attempt to understand the school's unique culture. His writing on page 73 indicates that social structure played a vital role in Columbine life.
The leading crowd of jock, cheerleaders, and hanger-on were well aware of who they were and defended the boundaries between themselves and lesser mortals in the social structure of the school through intimidation and humiliation. This was as true for the girls as it was for the boys, although the techniques of intimidation and separation were quite different. The jocks were not afraid of using physical intimidation and rituals of public humiliation to maintain their supremacy in the peer social system. The leading group of girls defended their positions with as much viciousness as did the boys.
