Upperclassmen may remember when a student could walk down the hallway on Fluco Friday and see everyone decked out in blue and gold. Now, it seems as if students are losing their interest in school spirit by the day. This phenomenon has left teachers, administrators and even some students curious as to what’s happened to the former spark of spirit. Are students just not interested anymore, or are spirit activities becoming boring and overused?
Some students argue that the reason why students are less involved in spirit weeks is the increasing focus on individual achievements and school assignments. In today’s world, many students are striving to be the best in whatever discipline they are passionate about. These students may feel as if it’s more important to prioritize personal success, such as academic achievements or sports, over participation in spirit activities.
In addition, the rise of the internet and social media may be distracting students from noticing–or caring–that there’s a spirit event coming up. After all, why bother to seek entertainment in the school halls when you can just scroll through Instagram or TikTok and not have to interact with anyone? The influence of the internet on students may be diverting their attention away from traditional school events, making it even harder for groups like SGA to plan spirit days and other events that could possibly compete with social media for students’ enthusiasm.
All of this has translated to a noticeable decrease in school spirit. In years gone by, students would share stories for days after about what crazy, over-the-top outfits they had seen spirited students wear. Today, after almost every spirit week, you can find students talking about how underwhelmed they were by the recent spirit week.
“This past spirit week was extremely boring and nobody I know participated,” said sophomore Megan Drumheller.
Students also seem to be finding the pep rallies that end some spirit weeks dull and not worth sticking around for. It is no longer an unusual sight to see a line of students at the attendance window checking out early before the pep rally starts.
“I was honestly dreading going to the pep rally last week because it just doesn’t interest me and the gym gets really loud,” said sophomore Jaidyn Grubbs.
In hopes of encouraging student participation, SGA has uploaded polls to Instagram so students can vote on what they think will make the most interesting spirit days. Still, many students will vote, but still not participate. Another factor that is challenging for SGA students is that some popular spirit days–such as “Anything But a Backpack Day” which had a high level of participation two years in a row–are turned down, as that day was this year by Administration, who felt it was too disruptive to classes.
“On top of it being difficult to come up with new spirit weeks, all of our ideas have to be approved [by Administration],” said SGA president Jamie Rodriguez.
Despite these challenges, SGA continues to work to get a spirit week they hope will cultivate school spirit among all the grades. To get ideas for their next spirit week, SGA will soon be uploading a new poll to Instagram (@fluco_sga) asking about what days should be used in the next spirit week. Only time will tell if their efforts make a difference.
“I think there’s a lot of issues contributing to the spirit decline,” said junior Brian Bauer. “When they all join together, the issue grows.”
