School spirit no longer plays as big of a role in the school community and has been decreasing over time but school organizations are working to improve it for the future.
Student Council sponsor and alumna Jillian Grimshaw said the student body used to participate more in school events.
“When I went here it was awesome and it was weird if you didn’t dress up for spirit days or attend sporting events,” Grimshaw said.
During homecoming week, senior and Student Council Dance Chair Alivia Valdez said not many people participated in the spirit days.
“I feel like we could definitely have more spirit because I feel like I would walk into school and not even half the people dressed up,” Valdez said.
Senior and Student Council spirit chair Allie Cross said people didn’t even participate on the easier theme days.
“Even the This is Our House day– that is supposed to be a really easy day– not even half the school dressed up,” Cross said.
Spirit days are for fun and aren’t embarrassing, Valdez said.
“I think a lot of people think that it’s embarrassing to dress up but it’s not embarrassing, it’s just fun. It’s supposed to band people together. It’s only embarrassing if no one else does it but if everyone does it then it’s fun,” Valdez said
School involvement and spirit decreased with switching to online school during the pandemic in 2020, Grimshaw said.
“Going online ruined that [spirit] and [now] a lot and people keep to themselves a little bit more. There’s been a social change of people not really loving high school anymore,” Grimshaw said.
Valdez said the growth of social media has affected the spirit of students.
“I think people nowadays with social media and stuff are so concerned about their image and they think it’s weird to dress up for spirit days,” Valdez said.
Some school organizations and staff have implemented things to improve school spirit. Grimshaw said Student Council created a spirit meter for this homecoming week.
“This year we did a bragging rights spirit meter for people to show that they were dressed up and participating in the spirit days. I [also] think Erin Taylor [Secretary of communications] does a really great job of promoting events that are happening at school on social media and Mrs. Perone [language arts teacher] does a really great job at adding things into Toilet Talks and that helps add another layer of getting the word out,” Grimshaw said.
Valdez said a lot of people checked in for the spirit meter but it was the same people.
“We had the spirit meter this year that people would come up and make it a competition to see who would get the most spirit points. I feel like a lot of people came up at lunch to do that but it was the same people everyday,” Valdez said
Cross said the National Honor Society [NHS] and Renaissance are encouraging students to participate in spirit days.
“Both NHS and Renaissance are doing point opportunities or giving hours if people are to dress up everyday,” Cross said
Student Council informed students of the spirit day themes to increase participation, Valdez said.
“We tried to put the spirit days up ahead of time so people had time to plan their outfits and stuff and we also posted about it on Instagram to make sure everyone knew what they were,” Valdez said.
Cross said Student Council’s way of informing people of spirit days has increased spirit.
“These have helped because it gives people a reason to remember them and even if you wanted to dress up for spirit days sometimes you wake up in the morning and you just forget. I think these will help people to purposely remember to dress up,” Cross said.
Out of her time here, said Cross, this year has been the most spirited.
“Honestly this year has been one of the better years since [seniors] have been at Summit,” Cross said.
Students are wanting to have school spirit and it is getting better, Grimshaw said.
“Everybody is on the same page that they want spirit to come back so it’s on the incline,” Grimshaw said.
