by Hannah Jespersen

School spirit at AHS has been severely lacking this 2012-2013 school year. It has become clear to multiple students and faculty that our students need to be more dedicated to the school, sports and other activities. Monica Witzman interviewed eight students and one teacher to get a better idea of where the problem is coming from.

The student section is the most obvious place lacking spirit. It doesn’t motivate our players when the student section is focused on bashing the other team. Negative crowd chants include the following: “SCORE BOARD, SCORE BOARD!” (yelled when the opponent scores, but we’re still ahead), “Sit down, coach!” (drawing attention to a potential technical), and “AIRBALL!” (the insult to a player whose shot has missed the hoop). Students are also notorious for yelling rude things such as, “You’re ugly!”, “#20 is fat!” and “Wimp!” When our students turn around and face the wall while the opponent’s starters are being introduced, it is embarrassing and completely uncalled for. It makes the students at AHS look extremely bad-mannered. In my opinion, bashing the opponent is not school spirit. It is just ignorant and mean.

Dress-up themes are another aspect of games that are lacking spirit. When students actually put forth enough effort to come up with a theme, a minimal amount of students actually take part in dressing up. When no one dresses up, our student section looks lazy. It appears as if none of the students actually care about attending the game. If our student section wants to look like a well-rounded, positive group of kids, it is important for everyone in the student section to participate and dress up.

When students aren’t yelling rude things, they are not doing much of anything. Freshman Ricky Martinez says, “I can see some people that go to games and stuff, but just don’t do anything…sit and talk with friends and don’t even cheer on players. They’re just there to be there.” Half of the students that go to games look at it as a social outing. While it is great to converse with friends, it is important to be a positive asset to the student section. Stand up and cheer for OUR team!

Instead of yelling mean things, our student section needs to cheer with positivity. Following the cheerleaders is a great way to accomplish this. Throughout the game, the cheerleaders chant things like, “AHS!” and “Atlantic Trojans!” These cheers are a great way to raise spirit and to positively influence the younger children that attend games. It makes our students look like better people while maintaining a positive reputation for Atlantic High School.