The last football game I went to, I remember that by the first half we were down by a lot. As it got closer to halftime more of the student section filed out. This caused our cheers to grow quieter while spaces of unoccupied bleachers loomed behind us. The school spirit and excitement having left the stadium.
As I enter my fourth year here at Centennial I feel that I finally have an opportunity to find out how to cultivate school spirit that lasts throughout every graduating class. Over my four years in high school, I have played a fall sport and in turn have had an opportunity to witness the hard work of athletes at our school. Among those is our Centennial football team. Between their summer workouts, weight room training, and dedication to the sport, the team shows up for our school tirelessly throughout the pre-season and the fall season. My question is: how do we show up for them, regardless of their victories and losses?
There is a culture of resilience here at Centennial as well as hard work. I believe that should be valued more than any loss or win. In an attempt to understand how my peers felt about our football team and school spirit I sent out a survey for them to offer their thoughts.
Out of the 76 students who participated in the survey, 86.8% believe that our student body has an overall negative view on the football team. And 77.6% believe that this view could affect the team. One student mentioned that less spirit could “negatively affect the team and the overall vibes and excitement of the games,” Similarly, a student mentioned that less people might want to try out for the team “because of the stigma around our team.”
This cycle of putting down our peers and in turn our school needs to stop if we want to create a more positive and spirited student body. When asked if students believe we need more school spirit, the majority of students responded with yes, one saying, “we’re lacking compared to other schools,” and another saying “[they] do think we need more pride […] everyone dresses up and participates, but it feels like no one’s proud to represent and support Centennial.” I believe that cultivating pride starts with teachers, administrators, and the student government, and I think we have done a great job so far this year with our pep-rally and the push to participate and support school activities.
I think the main issue Centennial faces is not being able to reach all social circles. As we are a school that places heavy emphasis on academics, many students have different priorities. For example, many responses to my survey were simply indifferent. Some students said that they didn’t have time to come to games or that they had other school activities, and I even got the response that “school spirit is a distraction to excelling in academics.” While academics are important, it is equally important to have a well-rounded high school experience, socially and academically.
There are students at Centennial that are spirited; they make up our student section and always participate in spirit days. During my interview with senior Maya Parrish, she mentioned that “it’s the same people every time,” participating in spirit days and activities. I got a huge amount of responses like this in my survey. The people going to all the games are very similar, and there is a separation in social groups in terms of spirit and showing up to events.
One student stated “I feel a lot of the school is disconnected,” and I’ve also noticed this throughout my high school experience. I think as students we underestimate the impact our school spirit has. The student body has the potential to encourage the football team and maybe even increase the amount of players that join in the coming years, which is a huge part of the team’s success. School spirit that boosts morale can also be a part of that success. A student athlete mentioned that “[they] feel more energized when [volleyball] [has] a good student section,” further proving that this could make a difference.
While I believe Centennial students have spirit, I think it is only expressed by one type of social group. My solution would be to continue building a positive and welcoming environment that encourages all students to participate. Parrish believes that part of increasing school spirit is “[getting] rid of the mindset that it’s embarrassing to participate,” as well as better spirit days. I would also add that we need to find ways to include people from different social groups. This could include creating more events for students to get together.
School spirit is something that comes and goes, and I hope that Centennial’s will last over generations no matter the results of games so we can continue to support our peers.
nm/tk
The opinions stated in this article do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of the Wingspan staff as a whole.
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