Why we need spirit back
photos by sky stockton
Why should we bring spirit back? You may be wondering. Why should we care? For starters, school spirit gives many students a sense of belonging. I’ll admit, if someone told freshman-year-me that, I probably would’ve scoffed.
But it’s true. Being an active participant in school-related events makes students feel connected. Spirit gives the student body something to bond over, and brings a community of all different types of people together.
“I think school spirit is a really good way for everyone to come together,” Will Christy, 12, said. “It’s cool to be a part of something.”
Additionally, school spirit benefits us students in terms of our performance. According to nfhs.org, 89% of principals reported students with better spirit also achieved higher both academically and athletically. Similarly, a Harris Poll conducted for varsitybrands.com said that “students with higher levels of school spirit perform better academically, are more civically engaged, and are happier in general than their less-spirited peers.”
With that in mind, our Student Senate is helping the push for more spirit. They’re trying to bring spirit to the school in everyday ways, such as painting the front windows for “Lancer week.” In addition, they want to keep big-picture spirit going by pushing themes for football games to unify our student section. Student Senate has a goal of encouraging more spirit school-wide for the 2019-2020 school year.
“This year we want something different. We want a better student senate than we’ve had in the past,” Luke Bingaman, 11, said. “We’re going to participate more, and [focus] on getting the input of our peers, so we can make our spirit weeks and pep rallies even better.”
A new addition this year is the creation of a Student Senate Instagram page. The main goal of this page is to create a place where students can easily stay up-to-date. Because an Instagram post is more interactive than an itsLearning message, it spreads information quickly to a broad audience. The page also aims to make the students feel more involved by posting photos of them from games, events, and spirit days.
“Everybody who’s on Student Senate is 100% in on promoting school spirit this year,” Will said.
You don’t have to be a part of Student Senate to care about spirit, though. Spirit can be part of every student’s daily life. Whether you show up to school with a good attitude or participate in activities such as the powder puff game, you can make school more fun for yourself every day with a bit of school spirit.
“Come to school excited,” Luke said. “When you show up with a smile on your face it can make all the difference.”
“Come to school excited. When you show up with a smile on your face it can make all the difference.”
Other students have shown an interest in upping our school spirit, too. Anna Russel, 12, moved here at the very end of her junior year. In her old school, spirit was a big deal. She felt that everyone bonding over school activities made school a lot more bearable, and hopes to feel the same way here at St. Joe.
“You should care because it’s your school. You only have four years here, and making the most of those years while you can is fun,” Anna said.
Our student body seems to agree with Anna; around 83% of survey takers report feeling proud to attend St. Joe. So c’mon SJ, let’s turn that Bear pride into some great school spirit.