REPRESENTATION: Students at Poly High School are disappointed in the lack of participation in school activities and spirit days.
By Crystal Hsueh, Staff Writer
For every major event at Poly, whether it be homecoming, prom, or the annual Poly vs. King rivalry game, the school engages in week-long spirit days and lunchtime pep rallies to encourage students to attend the school activities. However, it seems that every year, fewer and fewer students participate in spirit days and the student section at football games appear more and more bleak. “Yeah there’s kids in the stands but no one has on Poly shirts anymore or facepaint. There’s fewer and fewer kids in the student sections during football games now,” Myah Perera (12) said. How can the Poly students go from screaming “We bleed orange and green!” at sporting events to not even realizing it’s spirit week? What’s changed?
The topic surrounding the lack of school spirit at Poly has been widely debated with many arguments claiming that ASB doesn’t create interesting spirit days. Although ASB recycles certain spirit days such as Angels vs. Dodgers and Pajama Day, many themed days that were requested by students were still met with a lack of participation. “No one dressed up for Meme Day and that was a good one!” Perera exclaimed. Every school has different spirit days, different ASBs, and different football teams. It is illogical to argue that Poly’s lack of school spirit is due to the uncertainty that the football team will win, where there are other schools that attend football games regardless of the scoreboard. “No matter if we win or lose the actual game, I think everyone at my school enjoys their experience in the stands,” Yussha Haque (11), a student from La Sierra High School, stated. Participating in spirit days can lead to a crowd in the bleachers, students dressed up at the dances, and an audience at the assemblies.
It seems that one of the biggest reasons why students of any school are no longer interested in engaging in school activities is due to the belief that they are “too cool” for school spirit. It creates a domino effect of student after student not wanting to participate in spirit days because the person before them didn’t, until we reach the point where school spirit is in the past. “It’s mainly peer pressure. They have friends who think it’s stupid to have any school spirit so nobody really participates in it. I have a handful of friends who are like that,” Ariana Rogers (11), a student at Hillcrest High School said. The belief that school spirit isn’t “cool” needs to be abolished, because in reality, there is nothing more impressive than seeing a football stadium on a Friday night filled to the brim with cheering students supporting their school.