Students Call for a School Spirit “Revolution”
Jake Miller screams into his microphone, rallying the crowd, and losing his voice as Brittney Hrdlicka hurls a whipped cream pie into Mr. Phelan’s face.
Thunderous reactions erupt from the four sections of Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors in the high school gym.
Moments later, Ava Gile stands at center court to pie Principal Frank Paige, with a sea of students dressed in red, white, black, and gray waiting for impact.
Miller, a participant in many sports and extracurriculars at ELHS, is the master of ceremonies of the pep rally. This is the level of engagement he’s been waiting for.Four years after the start of the pandemic, students are still reeling from the downturn in participation at school events. Many feel school spirit, an important component of their high school experience, is lackluster. Disinterest has become the new normal.
Miller expected his high school experience to be different.
“I used to see those pictures on Instagram during spirit week. They’d be going all out and dressing up crazy and taking pictures in the gym. It looked super fun. I always wanted to be a part of something like that.”
But after three years of in-person high school, Miller has found school spirit does not match the Instagram feeds of his older sister and friends.
“I think a lot of it’s culture,” Jake said “ People are too afraid to put themselves out there. It’s not the norm anymore.”
Abby Pevay, a member of the Student Council, one of the individuals who organized the Pep Rally and Spirit Week, agreed.
“Sometimes when you look at other high schools, like all my friends, they do big things like Spirit Week and post on Instagram. Our high school just does absolutely nothing.”
Although frustrated at times, she is unbothered by the current environment at ELHS.
“There are some things our high school does better than others. I feel like the pep rally was good this year”.
Miller and others feel the same about the Pep Rally. They believe it gave a big boost to school engagement. Students screamed at Mike Ferrero and Corrighan Barry to win the class games and applauded Michelle Croken and Ashlee Stanek, who led the cheerleaders’ Barbie dance.
At the end of the rally, Miller encouraged others to attend Power Puff at the turf and many students showed up.
Miller thinks we need these kinds of events to foster school spirit. Powder Puff, he said, was great because it was “class vs. class”.
Events don’t always have to be large-scale, class competitions. Spirit can be built through simpler actions in which the entire student body is cheering on team sporting events.
“Just popping up at the basketball game yesterday,” Miller said, “It was super rowdy, Just show up to support your friends and your guys. And it’s just a lot more fun.”
As seniors at East Longmeadow next year, Miller and Pevay are hoping for the best.
“I couldn’t do it alone. You need to get people to buy in,” Miller said. “I think it’s possible.”
Students need to participate, but they also need to spread the word better so others know about the current events.
“I think that’s definitely, I think lack of advertising is a big deal”, Jake says. “People on the student council who made spirit week weren’t even participating. So I was kind of discouraged when I saw some of that.”
Pevay said that the Student Council advertised a lot but agreed that advertising was still an issue.
She and Miller have similar ideas on how to revive school spirit. They want large-scale events with different classes and participation at sporting events. A change in 2024-2025, their senior year, is up to the student body.
Minor adjustments, the pep rally MC says, won’t cut it.
“You need to get a certain group to lead a revolution in a way”, Miller says. “It doesn’t change unless you get people together who actually have the same goal in mind and want to go for it.”
