WCHS has a problem. A spirit problem. Hallways that were once filled with students dressed up for spirit days are lacking color. Crowds cheering during sports games are dwindling as the season goes by. School spirit has lost its excitement for many WCHS students, resulting in what some would consider a lackluster school environment.
“School spirit is a sense of identity and pride that the entire student body shares,” WCHS senior class president Jessie Lin said. “It means showing that you are proud to be part of the WCHS community.”
WCHS organizes numerous opportunities for students to get involved and show their school enthusiasm through spirit days, pep rallies and school dances. However, many students seem unresponsive to the school’s efforts.
“I remember participating in ‘Anything but a Backpack Day’ for homecoming spirit week and was so excited to see what everyone else was doing, but when I arrived at school no one else did it,” Lin said. “As the week went on, less and less people participated, which was really disappointing.”
Lin is not the only one aware of WCHS’s absence of spirit. According to a poll conducted on the Class of 2024 Instagram account, @wchssga24, 61% of voters said that WCHS does not have school spirit. The real question is: what is the reason behind increasingly apathetic students?
“I think a lot of the time people are focused on school work, tests and other extracurriculars so they don’t really pay attention to certain spirit days, especially as they get older,” WCHS senior Allison Zhang said.
With the stress of school and busy schedules, many WCHS students find themselves stretched thin. On the other hand, those that do find time to show school spirit may be a little hesitant.
“A lot of the time people only participate when others do,” Zhang said. “It can be daunting to put yourself out there and go all out for school spirit when nobody around you does, especially in high school.”
Regardless of the exact reason why, the absence of participation is very prevalent in spirit days as well as school events, and WCHS is suffering from it.
“In the past couple of years, we have dealt with low turnout rates for school events like the Glow dance,” Lin said. “We have even had to cancel and postpone events like Movie Night because there were not enough students interested.”
Despite the consistent lack of participation, SGA refuses to give up. They have been working hard throughout the year to plan new events and repurpose traditions in hopes to boost school spirit.
“Some ideas we are pushing for this year are a talent show, spirit contests and more pep rallies with class competitions,” Lin said. “We are also trying to rebrand the Glow dance as Valentine’s day themed to attract more people.”
Only time will tell if this new approach will be successful in gaining traction among students. For now, SGA encourages WCHS students to participate in spirit to help foster a warm and supportive school community.
“Although some may think showing school spirit is lame and uncool, school spirit is so much more than that,” Lin said. “Especially with the stress of school work and the business of life, school spirit is a unifying way to help make school more enjoyable. The fun memories with friends and classmates are what we want to remember when we look back on our high school experience.”
