Got Spirit?

School spirit is lacking within the walls of OCHS

Editorial by Amy Stromgren

   Many people may not like spirit week, pep rallies, or even Homecoming in general. No one really knows how these events come to be, who plans them, or how much time and thought goes into planning them. For Homecoming, the cheerleaders come up with the spirit week days and the pep rally, which makes up a majority of the week.

   As a cheerleader, it’s challenging and frustrating to come up with spirit week days when no one dresses up or participates. We have to take into consideration if the days are appropriate or not, who will dress up for them, and if boys and girls alike will participate. It’s very discouraging when we come up with days such as “Pajama Day” and people purposely don’t dress up because it’s “silly” and “childish.” When people view spirit week in that way, it makes our job even harder when trying to plan a pep rally because we have to try to please them.

   Pep rallies seem to be an even bigger challenge than spirit week. The cheerleaders have to come up with different activities to keep the student body interested for the last 20 minutes of the day. We shouldn’t have to keep them interested though. They should want to go and get pumped up for the big game. Instead, they just sit there with blank stares, or worse, they ditch. We as cheerleaders try to come up with fun cheers and games for everyone, and the band and dancers also try to help by bringing a cool dance and songs to get everyone’s attention. However, few seem to enjoy it. It takes weeks to get homecoming put together and we are excited for it to happen, even if it’s very stressful for us.

   We could enjoy homecoming more if everyone could appreciate it just as much as we do, or even more. The school spirit could be boosted way more if everyone participated and tried to have fun. So next time there is another pep rally, have as much fun as you can, because you won’t get your high school years back.