School Spirit: A Deteriorating Tradition

School spirit is a core tradition we hold high at Lafayette. Rams take pride in football games, spirit weeks, and pep rallies by dressing up in gold, blue, white, or costumes that fit the theme. However, this value of spirit has grown weaker over the years. The strength of the Pep Club from five years ago doesn’t

match the strength of this years. Students are losing hope in spirit week days and faculty is taking away classic themes like ‘Murica Monday and Class Color Day.

The feelings of this declination in spirit have been felt throughout the student body of today and past years. We went out and interviewed several students in different grades to get a better understanding of school spirit over the years.

Aaron Adam interviews LHS History teacher Mr. Downs.

Lafayette’s school spirit is what the school is known for. From the teachers participating in all events to students going all out for spirit week, this tradition is something that upperclassman don’t want to see die after they leave. Head of SGA, Mr. Downs, is a crucial part of school spirit and communication to the students. When asked if he feels school spirit had changed, he said, “Spirit around the school has changed.” He continued by saying, “In past years I feel that students and certain leaders were more involved and got the lower classman involved.” A factor that upper class man seem to think is one of the largest hinges is the lack of lower classman participation. Every year the school sees the same thing, freshman come up from middle school with the idea of  “I’m not dressing up that’s not “cool”.”, but they soon realize that school spirit is what we really take pride in. Mr. Downs had this to say on the lower class participation, “I feel that is worse than past years but I do think it will get better it always does.” he also stated “The upper class needs to step in more and take charge and be the leaders and show them how Lafayette does things.” One thing students feel was a large effect on moral and spirit throughout school days and other out of school events was the administration. With rules being put in place majority of people don’t agree with, and changes that were made this year that were never even thought of in the past, was a large blow to the student body. When asked about school administration he said “Administration was a limiting factor but not as big of a block as everyone thinks they are.” So how do we revive school spirit? We need the upper class to take more charge, we also need the lower class to step up as future leaders of the school.

Michael LaBella interviews LHS senior, Ricky Sullivan.

My interview with Lafayette senior, Ricky

Sullivan was about the school spirt overall at Lafayette. With being a senior at Lafayette Ricky was one of the most reliable resources to what the student body thought about our school spirit. I started the interview with the same opinionated question that all of my group mates asked there interviewers, “What do you think about Lafayette’s school spirt right now?” Ricky’s response was mostly conveyed with him telling me how great the school spirt was in his first two years of high school and how everyone was so passionate about the school and how much fun it was being involved in the school spirit. But when he talked about how the school spirit was today he seemed a little disappointed he said it “Had gone down in recent years.” due to unknown reasons throughout the school and it was just not as fun as it used to be. Now being a senior at Lafayette you could tell that meant a lot to him. The second question I asked him was “If the school spirt has gotten better or worse and why?” His response was that it had gotten worse and that one of the main reasons that it has declined is due to the lack of participation in school events. That this reduction has caused most of the underclassmen to not even care about the school spirit and attend any of the events. Like the football games and pep rally’s that had been the overall prime example of Lafayette’s school spirt had become sad and not show what Lafayette’s true school spirt was about. Lastly I asked Ricky, “What is your favorite aspect of Lafayette’s school spirt?” He said it was most definitely the pep rallies. That throughout all of his years at Lafayette his favorite school events were the pep rallies because he got to spend time with all of his friends and compete against the other classes to show who had the most school spirit and that is why his favorite part about Lafayette’s school spirt was the pep rallies because everyone participated.

Ryan LaBella interviews LHS junior, Jacob Golub.

For my interview I interviewed Jacob Golub, a Lafayette junior who plays baseball is involved with band and is a big Lafayette school spirit participant. During this interview Jacob Golub said Lafayette high school spirit right now and  he thinks at this point in his high school

career it is the lowest it has ever been. Now I am going to have to agree with this because of the things he is seeing like lack of people going to school events, the lack of pep rallies, and the lack of spirit weeks compared to previous years. These are the problems that are affecting our school spirit and things that he say we definitely need to improve on. Another question I asked him was do you think the school spirit has improved or gotten worse from previous years? His answer was extremely straight forward saying it is worse definitely and that from his freshman year it has only gone downhill. As a student in Lafayette high school this answer hurts but it is the truth especially because Lafayette is known for its school spirit and its athletics. The third question I asked him was why it has gotten better or worse? He said because Lafayette’s lower class doesn’t really care about school spirit and we as upper classmen are not really doing anything to make it better. This is something we are going to have to do better as a school to improve our school spirit and make Lafayette a better place. Then finally Jacobs’s favorite aspect of school spirit is spirit week and when we get to dress up using themes and improve our school spirit. He says getting people to do this helps our school community come together and become stronger as a whole and become the school Lafayette is known to be.

Drew Ramos interviews LHS freshman, Luke Hanson.

School spirit at Lafayette High School is defined as the student body participating and being enthusiastic for their teams and clubs. When discussing school spirit

with fellow Lafayette students, there were some disputes on how school spirit has changed over the years. While interviewing Lafayette freshman Luke Hanson, he had some opinions on how the school spirit is at Lafayette. Hanson said, “Our school spirit is great, everyone always comes out to support whatever school events are going on.” Luke Hanson is one of Lafayette’s quarterbacks so he plays at one of the main activities that is powered by school spirit. When asked about how spirit has changed from middle to high school, Luke reported that, “High School acts like more of a school than just people in a small group dressing up. When it comes to football games and spirit week, the student body is supportive and helpful from students to dress up and show their school spirit.” Some people at Lafayette say that the school spirit has declined over the years, but Hanson said that, “I am only a freshman, but I have seen the sprit at this school during middle school and I don’t believe that the spirit has declined over the years. When I came to Lafayette, everyone was excited and hype for activities, exactly what I saw as I grew up and saw students root on their team during games.” Lastly, when asked about what his favorite aspect of school spirt is, Luke Hanson said, “Spirit week and pep rallies for sure because everyone gets involved and it brought everyone and the school together. Spirit week gives people the freedom to dress however they want and it gives them the ability to express their creative side.” Furthermore, School Spirit at Lafayette High School has many aspects and ways to participate throughout the school community.

Luke Clark interviews LHS Alumni, Jake Clark.

School spirit has empowered kids to go all out in everything they do at Lafayette. Previous Ram Nation

leader and Lafayette alumni, Jake Clark, states that his experience with Lafayette spirit “Got better through the years. By the time I was a senior, it felt like everyone participated in everything.” The evidence of the strength in past spirit is strongly present. We used to be the best school in the district for spirit and now we’ve declined. “I came back in my sophomore year in college to visit people and see how the pep club was doing. Football participation has gone down significantly and the excitement for events has diminished.” We, as current students, have seen things decline in our time at Lafayette, but to hear a past student speak about the way school spirit has gone down is eye opening. Clark continues to talk about his conversation with Riley Leigh, another past Ram Nation leader, saying that a possible explanation for the loss in spirit is the “Change in administration, from laid back to strict.” I began to tell Clark about the change from multiple spirit weeks and pep rallies to one of each per year. Needless to say, he went ballistic. He couldn’t believe that administration could approve something like this when Lafayette prides itself in school spirit so much. I think one thing is evident after talking to Jake Clark, spirit is in decline, something needs to change, and the change in administration could be the start of it.