Our school spirit is pitiful. People leave our football games early; not enough students hype up spirit days. Every year our school seems to lose some spirit. When I was a freshman, our school spirit was something special, but we as students lost that vibe. As years go by it seems as if students have forgotten the importance of showing school spirit and the impact it can have on our high school experience.

From my experience, Friday night lights is when you show off school spirit. Going to football games, especially home games seems to always bring our school together which I believe is what having spirit is all about.

It is embarrassing to see so few students in the stands cheering on our team during the third and fourth quarter. When people leave early, school spirit fades, The excitement high school can bring is now lost.

Ben Kushnir (12) weighed in on the problem of VHHS’s deteriorating spirit.

“It’s upsetting to see our school spirit deteriorate because I feel like the class of 2019 is the very last class to actually care,” Kushnir said.

If it was up to me, every person who comes to a game would stay until the end. People claim CRU, the school’s spirit team, or the cheerleaders aren’t doing enough to encourage school spirit. I blame it on all of us for not caring enough. We as students can’t always blame it on the ones who are leading the cheers because all of us need to first participate.

According to a recent survey, 79.2% of VHHS students find school spirit important. I find that quite ironic due to the recent drought of enthusiasm. While people do bring excitement to color wars, we need to, as a school, bring that same excitement to all events.

Freshman Charlie Lemme added on how he wants to see school spirit alive all the time.

“If the school is down and there’s nothing really going on, it’s not going to be a fun experience for that [any] person, but if the school is fun and everyone is joining in on this thing it’s going to be a splendid time,” Lemme said.

I remember days when I walked into school decked out in that day’s theme. Then I look around and see no one else doing the same, and I honestly feel embarrassed to be that one guy.  

I believe the epitome of my class’s high school career was color wars 2017. The class of 2019 remembers this day because each and every one of us showed up ready to compete. We all remember the hype we created leading up to the day, and the joy we felt when we won. This is easily one of my favorite high school memories and it was because of school spirit we all fearlessly showed.

Imagine if we showed up to color wars that day wearing maybe one yellow shirt, and treating it like another day of school. We would have ruined the point of it for ourselves and for everybody else. We would’ve set the tone to the other classmen that spirit days, such as color wars, in this case, are lame. Oddly enough, many from all classes are already having this effect  

Joey Levitan, a current CRU member, expressed his beliefs on why school spirit should be an important factor in all of our lives.

“It brings the people of the school together and forms a sense of community when we can all rally behind a sports teams or a club,” Levitan said.

People need to understand that no matter how ‘embarrassing’ school spirit can be, once you participate, you can create memories worth holding on to forever. School spirit days are what made my high school career fun and worth it. Each and every one of us loves this school because, though we may not admit it, it has shaped us into the people we are and will become. So show some respect for VHHS and let your spirit fly.