Every Friday night, students and fans look forward to high school football games, but with creative themes like ‘Rep Your Country’ to ‘Gold Out,’ the student section brings more than just cheering fans-it brings spirit. Themed games have taken over the stadium, bringing high energy and school pride to every game.
“I would say that the theme plays a big role in the game. If it’s a bad theme, then people won’t participate. Having a good theme that everyone really enjoys, as in ‘Rep Your Country’ or ‘White Out,’ brings more people to the game, with more people participating in the theme, it brings more energy,” senior Sidney Rush said.
Rush has run the activity account for the past two years. She handles everything related to spirit themes, from football and basketball games to school spirit events. Rush takes into account that the students’ opinions matter so that each theme can bring as much energy and school spirit as possible.
“I look at all the themes that we’ve done in the past, and then I talk to the high school, to see which themes they like the best, so we know what we want to keep,” Rush said. “Pink out and gold out rotate years. We always do those two to honor breast cancer and childhood cancer. I also give people the opportunity to vote on the Instagram stories to see which theme they want for certain games.”
Ninth through twelfth graders are apart of the student section. This year freshmen have had a new opportunity to be apart of the student section and participate in the spirit themes as last year they did not.
“This year has been different than the last and I get to be more involved with my peers, the themes gets everyone hyped up about Friday night games,” freshmen Reese Craig said.
Boarding students from all over the world get to experience the way the American culture brings spirit to the football games. We had ‘Rep Your Country’ as a spirit theme, and many get involved and get excited to show pride towards their country.
“I liked ‘Rep Your Country’ because I could wear my country’s flag and show everyone where I am from. Back home we usually go to soccer games. But we don’t have themes or anything, it’s nothing compared to this. Here, we have a sense of spirit that’s really cool,” sophomore Isabella Martinez-Marquez said.
Having a good theme that everyone will enjoy and want to be apart of is really important. Being able to show spirit as a school while having fun is beneficial towards many who love the school.
“I feel that the theme gets everyone hyped for the game and excited, showing lots of school spirit. I also think that the football team gets hyped seeing everyone with spirit cheering in the stands,” freshman Barrett Woods said.