School spirit club’s presence brings enthusiasm to the stadium
By Maria Paskell
“We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit! How ’bout you?” This familiar chant echoes across the front rows of the student section at every football game. The students of Spirit Club comprise this enthusiastic, intense part of the audience filled with cowbells and chanting. Back this year with more pride than ever, Spirit Club has high hopes of continuing a tradition at the high school.
Seniors Susan Dappen and Jake Bishop united this group to bring liveliness to the high school sporting events. Bishop said they were initially inspired as freshmen.
“I think what has made this year so intense was the senior class when I was a freshman,” Bishop said. “That class had great attendance at all sporting events.”
Following that class, the spirit went downhill, Bishop said. This prompted him and Dappen to reinvent the enthusiasm at sporting events.
“The past two years, there was little-to-no organization at games, and attendance was poor,” Bishop said. “So when we became seniors, Susan and I decided to form a spirit club so we could have the same kind of great senior class that always cheered on the Bears.”
Now taking on this responsibility, Bishop leads meetings with Dappen. The meetings are held Wednesdays after school and the club encourages underclassmen to join.
“Anyone can join Spirit Club, but so far only seniors have attended meetings,” Bishop said. “We encourage underclassmen to come to meetings and get the feel of what Spirit Club is about, because soon enough it will be their responsibility to run.”
When it comes time for games, it can be expected for Spirit Club to be front row of the student section. However, much preparation goes into making the games as exciting and lively as they appear.
“As far as organizing for games, we like to have everyone meet about an hour prior to football games for a quasi-tailgate get-together where we can get together to grill out, throw a football around, pass out cowbells, etc.,” Bishop said. “That way, we can enter the game together for a direct injection of spirit into the crowd.”
Senior Clay Hall is another member of the Spirit Club and has high hopes for the club this year, including attendance to all sporting events, not just football games.
“We cannot force anyone to do anything, but I hope that if we can get a group of us to attend other sports, more will come,” Hall said.
Hall wants this club to be passed on to future grades and possibly start a tradition.
“We wanted to initiate the Spirit Club to bring back dedicated fans to all sporting events. Our hope is that we can start a great tradition and pass it on to upcoming seniors so that they can lead their peers in the stands,” Hall said. “We want Spirit Club to survive and continue to grow after we graduate this spring.”