We the Spartans have a problem. COVID-19 regulations have decreased school spirit and community togetherness. We have missed out on eating lunch together, in-person clubs, activities, supporting our sports teams, homecoming, and much more.
School spirit has many mental effects, like feeling part of something bigger than yourself and having a common interest with others, but without it, people will feel excluded and their overall morale will be lowered.
“It’s important to have meaningful conversations with students,” Principal Rick Flaherty said.
Having a healthy school spirit shows a successful school and one student want to be a part of. Students get to rally behind their teams or spend time dancing with friends when they have sports games and homecoming or prom. Students aren’t getting those this year.
Due to this problem, students have been affected by anxiety, as well as emotional and social depression. Many students feel secluded from school, home, and work if they have it. These students do not have the extra activities normally provided by the school such as going to a sports game or even doing something outside of school. However, some students have found that online school and staying in the home rather than going out has been more comfortable and is helping them thrive. They have found doing the same, simple routine every day of logging into school to be a comfort rather than a nuisance.
In order to create more of a community within students and more school spirit, there are many ideas that can create that feeling of togetherness. For students in school, we can have art classes create posters to hang up in the hallways, giving students something more to look at when passing rather than just hustling to their next class. Classes can have songs of the days chosen by students to start their class off in a good mood. For virtual students, or in school students who would like to join, there can be virtual game nights with Kahoot or other games for the students.