Over the past four years I have noticed a startling lack of school spirit amongst the student body and specifically my fellow seniors. The lack of spirit is most noticeable at sporting events where most people do not stand and cheer, and others do not even bother to, show up but it is also evident in the lack of people taking part in spirit days and enthusiasm at school-sponsored events like pep rallies.
Let me start with my fellow seniors. It may be too late for this, but really?! We could not win a single spirit event during the four years we spent at CHS. Heck, we couldn’t even win Powderpuff, which they practically hand to the seniors. It may have been an elaborate scheme to sabotage our senior class (I’m on to you, Dr. Benz), but it more than likely is a result of never wearing our class shirts on spirit days and more than a few of us skipping out on pep rallies.
Okay, so I might not be the shining example of school spirit – having never purchased a class shirt and rarely partaking in school fundraisers and organizations – but at least I brought the noise at sporting events.
I won’t go too in depth about what is wrong with the atmosphere at Shepherd Field (or as it will henceforth be referred to, The Shep) as a colleague here at the Observer took the liberty of doing so earlier this year, but would it kill you to stand up and clap? With the sheer size of the student body here at CHS, The Shep should be one of the hardest places in the county to play, but the enthusiasm of a handful of students that made the basketball team one of the best home teams in the county as recently as two years ago cannot be extrapolated over the entire student body, which is a testament to the lack of spirit we have in our school.
The way to tackle this lack of spirit must be to first pinpoint the reason for the lack of spirit. Is it in the name? It is understandably difficult for a bunch of American students to rally around the name of a British prime minister, but Wootton has harnessed a greater sense of school spirit despite being named after the founder of Montgomery County. This brought me to the next possibility, is it possible that Wootton’s student body as a whole was more united?
Wootton has perfected the student section to a level never even thought of at Churchill. The BBQ Club is a perfect way to bring students together through sports and naturally improve school spirit. Though the implementation of a BBQ Club-style organization would only affect sports initially, as VT has taught me this year, trickle-down works and, spirit as a whole would naturally improve.
Ultimately, the lack of spirit stems from the same root as what causes all the problems with us damn kids these days, we just don’t care. It is perceived by most students at CHS that caring about and being spirited about anything is “uncool.” This mentality is the same mentality that causes smart kids to not do well in school and lack any drive whatsoever, but that issue is worth a whole separate article. What I am worried about is that this mentality that fulfills the negative stereotype is not just hurting ourselves, but our fellow students and our school. So stand up, be proud and get rowdy. You’re only in high school once, so why not make your mark?
