I would like to state right off that this is my second try at this article. The first was thought to be "unfit to print" by myself and the person I consider to be my biggest fan. I hope that this one will hold the approval of not only my self but of you the reader as well.
It is time that we (the school as a whole) pump it up. "Pump what up?" you ask? Not our sneakers or our hair but our school spirit. I can hear some of you gasping at those words. For those of you who don't know what school spirit means I will tell you. It means pride in your school. Ah, what do we have to take pride in you ask? Pick something. You can pick almost anything you want and find something to be proud of. So what if, lets just say, half of our school is druggies? That means the other half is not and we can be proud of that. I have attended a number of football games this season and for the earlier games the crowd response was almost non-existence. Later though the spirit club led by Kathy Lee took the bull by the horns offering transportation and noise makers along with free food. But all of that was not enough. She recruited the people with the most school spirit to lead an otherwise dormant crowd. All it takes is a one-man pep trombone player coupled with the cheer leaders to get a crowed going. I thought for sure that the problem of not having school spirit was almost gone until I say the Homecoming parade and game. Oh what a sad sad sight. The parade was almost with out spectators. It's really to bad that the classes went to all of that trouble to put together some great floats and there was no one there to look at them. I will admit that I was only at the Homecoming game for the first two quarters because I had other school business to attend to. But what I saw was disheartening. For some reason we were back to the non-responsive crowed again despite the efforts made by the alumni pep band and the boys in the clown wigs. For some odd reason it seemed that the crowed went deaf every time the cheerleaders tried to lead them in cheer. Yes folks, that is what they do. Generally, now I'm just guessing, they will yell some thing and you are supposed to repeat it. I know it can be rough but if you give it a try you might just get the hang of it. You wouldn't believe how much the roar from the stands can make a football player feel.
Now I would like to address the school dances. Did I hear groans? I really dislike doing this but I have to. Here's the break down: school dance. This time it is not the people's fault. I have been to both the welcome back "dance" and the homecoming "dance" and I, as have many others, felt that the were horrific. The welcome back "dance" was two and a half-hours of rap, seven minutes of down time, and the remaining time was slow songs. Now understand that I don't really have anything against rap it's just it has been over played at the dances. At the welcome back "dance" the hall had just as many people in it as the gym did. The homecoming "dance" was a big disappointment. I got there late(like twenty minutes) and I counted the number of slow songs that were played after I arrived. I am sorry to say that I counted a grand total of two and the first verse of YMCA (I am sure that they were teasing us). It must be that the DJs don't realize that there are members of both sexes at the dances. When you look around there are people just standing there and the people who are dancing are in large groups. Perhaps we no longer have an attraction to the opposite sex?
The Halloween dance was a vast improvement over the other two.
Although it was lacking in many areas it was moving in the right direction. The appearance of Fifi Labo seemed to keep the few people that were there...shall we say, entertained? The DJ's took requests and even through in a dance contest. I am looking forward to future dances in hopes that they will meet the next level.