Chase County USD 284

Linda Drake

 

School spirit starts to look different in the spring versus the fall of the school year. At the beginning of the year, students are excited to see their friends at sports games, participate in dress-up days and cheer on their classmates.

 

As the year goes on, students get busier and busier, and finding the time to go to cheer on their classmates becomes harder. Many students participate in their own sports which can be very time consuming on its own. 

 

“I don’t think we have as much school spirit during the spring because it is a very busy time of year and there is not a lot of free time for those who are in sports. It is also close to the end of the school year so many students have checked out and don’t feel the need to go out and support them along with having school spirit,” senior Kinzie Rogers said. 

 

Another issue that occurs is the school workload that students have towards the end of the year. Students have finals to worry about and keeping up with their work when they are gone for sports meets or games. This also makes it harder to find energy to have school spirit during the spring. 

 

“It’s easy to have school spirit during the fall because we don’t have as much going on schoolwork wise. We don’t have to worry about finals yet, everyone is just getting used to coming to school again,” junior Landon Doty said. “In the spring we have to worry about keeping up with our work to not fall behind because everything gets so busy.”

 

Another crucial reason that students feel like the spring has less school spirit is because StuCo doesn’t organize spirit days like they do in the fall time. During the fall, almost every football and volleyball game has a designated dress-up theme that students become excited for. Some students think that by creating more spirit days school spirit in the spring could increase. 

 

“We do so many dress-up days in the fall but we give up during the spring. Maybe if we encourage students to come to spring sports activities with dress-up days like we do in the fall we could have more school spirit,” junior Kadence Gerber said. “I know I don’t feel very motivated to come to a spring event if no one is excited about it. We could fix that if we just kept putting in effort in the spring.” 

 

Junior Avery Beyer gets excited for the football game dressed in the theme of Barbie, and waves to get the school spirit up and going. “I think we started off really strong with dressing up for student sections and having spirit week day," Beyer said. "During Spring it's hard because there are no Homecoming or Winter Courts spirit days to dress up for. There are also no student sections in spring sports so it's just kind of hard to keep the school spirit up throughout the entire school year. I think it's important to have school spirit because it makes school a more enjoyable place. Dressing up and doing competitions make going to school more fun and helps support our sports teams even more.”

 

Freshman Ellena Bell cheering on the freshman’s homecoming float to show how the school shows their school spirit on homecoming. “I think school spirit changes through the years because of new classes and people leaving. Sometimes certain individuals truly embody the school spirit, and other times not," Bell said. "In the fall, most students are excited and reunited with their classmates and they are looking up, but in the Spring everyone is just ready to finish school, and are not as motivated to go to events. “

 

Senior Grace Newland expresses her school spirit by leading a cheer/chant at one of the home basketball games. “I believe that our school spirit has gone down quite a bit since the Fall," Newland said. " I feel like people don't have much school spirit in the spring because of all the other sports going on. I think school spirit is important because it shows that we care and want to be involved. Dressing up is always a good way to show school spirit. I enjoy doing cheer because it shows that I can have school spirit and support our teams.”

 

Senior Kinzie Rogers cheers from the stands for our football team along with one of our younger student. “As the year went on, our school has lost spirit. There has been less support throughout school activities and students have stopped participating in events during the spring," Rogers said. "I think there is more school spirit in the fall than in the spring because it is the start of the school year and students are excited to be back. I also think this is because students do not have as much free time during the spring and many athletes are dual sporting. The spring is a very busy time of year for students and they don't have as much free time which makes it difficult to have school spirit.”

 

Senior Micayla Simpson shows her school spirit by cheering on our basketball team. She explains how school spirit is different in the fall and in the spring. “I think the spirit squad has changed a lot and developed a lot of new skills that can be used in the future. I also think the new squad will do awesome things for the spirit squad as a whole. I think there’s more school spirit in the Fall because that’s when football is and more students like football, it’s more hype and homecoming is always great.”