School spirit is a quality students should strive for and take pride in. The motivation to go all out at football games, to wear the best outfits for Spirit Week and to be proud to represent Athens on an everyday basis is something students at this school obviously lack.
While the problem of no school spirit may not be the biggest issue at our school, it makes Athens Drive look bad as a student body. If students have no pride in their school, other schools will notice and think lowly of it. Not to mention the fact that students lose a common connection to other students, so the school stays divided rather than united.
Usually school events such as athletic games and Spirit Week get the students excited because they create a fun distraction from the boring aspects of school, but with no one participating they just become another dull moment in a teenager’s life.
Friday night football is probably one of the most enjoyable parts of high school. Regardless of how the team plays, students are still supposed to support their team and keep the energy of the crowd up. This past season, Athens’ student section was a sad comparison to those of other schools like Middle Creek, Leesville, Wakefield, etc.
One of the main issues was that the juniors never came to any of the games. The student section consisted of seniors, sophomores and freshmen, leaving the stands less full. Senior students would attempt to get the underclassmen to cheer and teach them the chants, but they rarely joined in.
While it is understandable that the stands at winter and spring sports are not packed, but the less popular sports teams would surely appreciate being supported by their fellow peers.
On occasion students may have legitimate excuses for not being able to show up to certain events, but one thing students have no excuse for is dressing up for spirit week. This year’s spring theme was “Throwback” which gave students a chance to relive their childhood before they go to college and enter the adult world.
The week started off with “Movie Star” Monday and “Top of the Charts” Tuesday; students were supposed to dress up as an actor/actress from their favorite movie/show and then as their favorite singer. It is understandable that these days require a little more creativity, but that is the fun part.
The rest of the week included “What NOT to Wear” Wednesday, “Naptime” Thursday and “Blue and Orange” Friday. These days are easy to dress up for, and yet barely any students participated. It actually takes effort to not dress up on the majority of these days.
Students used to go all out for Spirit Week, but now there is a scarce amount of students who even participate. People complain that they did not know far enough in advance, but posters have been up in the hallways for weeks and Student Council even sent out tweets to remind everyone.
The truth of the matter is, a majority of students are just lazy and do not care. When one student refuses to dress up, other students follow their lead. Sooner or later it gets to the point where someone sticks out for dressing up, when really it should be the other way around.
