Editorial: We need more spirit
Every year, when spirit week rolls around, there always seems to be a distinct lack of spirit in the air. Maybe it’s the weather, or the fact that for the past few years St. John’s football has crushed the competition at the Homecoming game. Or maybe there aren’t enough opportunities to be spirited. In any case, it’s not just spirit week – there is a consistently low turnout to football games and an almost nonexistent student crowd at any game other than football. Why is this? Logically, St John’s should have the most spirit, because athletics are so well-known and successful. Nevertheless, every year, spirit is seriously lacking.
Why is SJC spirit so lackluster? One theory that’s very popular, according to students, is the Booster Club. The purpose of this article is not to rag on the Booster Club, because we already did that last year, but their job description is to be involved and spirited and students are not so sure they are. Sophie Friel ’21 said, “I think that it’s kind of depressing and we do a bad job of getting the underclassmen involved.” The Booster Club does have a hard job though, and compared to last year, spirit is definitely up. We have costumes now and everyone can agree that the “parting the Red Sea” at the Homecoming game was pretty spectacular. You might have even seen the Pope at the Good Counsel game last weekend.
Another plausible theory is that St. John’s sports are so used to winning that students don’t bother coming out for games anymore. In the past three or four years, SJC football, boys’ soccer, hockey, field hockey, and baseball have had spectacular, conference-winning seasons. This might have given students the impression that there’s no need to show a lot of spirit, because the teams win anyway. However, this past year has shown a regrettable decline in the number of wins for football, and subsequently spirit has picked up a little. “I think we want to have a lot of excitement for the football team because now it’s actually a good game,” Allison Sippel ’21 said. “We actually might lose now, and that would suck, but it’s more fun to watch.”
Our teams deserve better. They deserve to be supported! They deserve to have a spirited student body that comes out for games and senior nights. They deserve to have their wins recognized and celebrated. So, while school spirit is low right now, that can change. But it’s up to the student body to show some support and the administration to facilitate the celebrating.
