Written By: Anna Lange

The crowd holds their breath. 

What will happen? Will he do it? Can we win?

Anxious thoughts grip the spectators in the stands.

The athletes stand in their positions, ready for the final kick.

Everyone united by one moment, eagerly awaiting the results of the final play, scores neck-and-neck.

Is this the definition of school spirit? 

        Junior Abigail Maynard believes school spirit comes from sporting events and the cheer blocks found at the football and basketball games, as well as the dress up weeks hosted at the school.

        “I think by seeing other people doing it, it makes people want to be more involved,” Maynard said. “We feel most united when we are doing things together that’s educational but also entertaining at the same time.”

        Freshman Aiden Cole thinks school spirit is shown mainly through dress up weeks and other school activities. 

        “I believe when we do activities together and dress up together it increases our school spirit,” he said. “It does this by making people feel like they’re part of something bigger, being part of our school. If we stopped having spirit week and stopped doing school-wide activities, our school spirit would drop because we would not have a good way to connect with one another. 

        “I feel that as students, we feel most united when doing some fun or team-building activity. The reason I believe this is due to these activities giving us a sense of community, friendship and making us feel like we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves.”

        Junior cheerleader Julia Bowling said that the school shows school spirit by encouraging students to participate in different clubs and sports.

        Senior Cameron Albertson believes that school spirit is increased through success in the school’s sports. 

        “The more the school basketball or football team wins, the more school spirit is shown by the students,” he said. “The support from students when they see a chance at a championship increases or during a rivalry game or a must win game. When something is on the line, like the county championship or a sectional loss having the chance to send someone home, it feels like at that point we see more students at the games cheering on the team.” 

        Sophomore Waylon Foster believes school spirit depends on the success of the school’s sports. “I feel like the students feel the closest in a student section,” Foster explained. “Everyone is wanted and welcome. We want the best possible outcome to cheer on our teams. I feel like they have the most energy in the student section [at football games]. I remember when I was in elementary school and I would go to the games and the Student Section would be PACKED. I wish we had those turnouts.”

        Along with the sports teams, school spirit can also come from the school’s history. Do the students feel like their school’s history is important?

        “It may be important just to know what we are known for and what we need to live up to,” Maynard said. Also, the Lion mascot, which was chosen because of historical ties to the Lyon family, shows “that we are brave and take in a lot of pride in what we do.”

        Cole agreed that it is important to know the history of Salem Schools. “I believe it is important to know our school’s history so we can learn from our predecessors’ successes and failures,” he said. “Since Lion Pride is basically our slogan, I believe that our lion mascot shows that we have a lot of pride in ourselves and our community, that we take pride in what we do.”

        Albertson said it is important for students to “simply understand where we came from and how our school has evolved over time.” He added, “the lion mascot shows that as a school, we are meant to be relentless and continue to push through adversities we face.”

        Bowling said she “thinks our school spirit increases the most when there are fun things for students to be involved in. Students also feel united after a big game is won. Good pep rallies can increase school spirit, too.”

        Foster suggested that traditions within the school should be passed down year to year, and that can only be done through having a knowledge of school history, including the origins of the lion mascot. 

        “The lion mascot is a great representation of our schools, and the fans love it,” he said.

        With seniors graduating and leaving the schools and middle schoolers coming into the high school for the first time, changes in the level of school spirit are to be expected. But what grade level or person do students believe shows the most school spirit?

        “I always believe the seniors do,” Maynard said, “just because it’s their last year and they wanna do everything possible. I think this year the younger classmen were not really involved as previous years, but that’ll come with time.” She also added that senior Jason Sipes has the most school spirit of them all, since he “brightens everyone’s day.”

        Cole said freshmen and seniors appear to show the most school spirit. 

        “During spirit week I mostly see the seniors and freshmen going all out,” Cole said. “Even though I’ve only been a part of Salem High School for almost a year as a freshman, I believe this year has shown more school spirit than any other year. Back in middle school, we barely had any spirit weeks and school-wide activities. 

        “This year has been one of my favorite years as a student. I’ve loved freshman year and can’t wait for what is to come in the future. I hope our school continues to do a good job at building our community.” 

        Cole said  teachers Monika Spaulding and Michelle Medlock are the hearts of school spirit. 

        “I believe that Mrs. Spaulding is the heart of our school spirit since she runs the school’s newspaper and the newspaper is a major part of spreading our school spirit,” he said. “I believe that Mrs. Medlock is also the heart of our school spirit since she runs SADD and Student Council-with the help of Mrs. Hazelip-these two clubs are a major key in our school spirit. The reasoning is that these clubs usually make the school-wide activities and our spirit weeks.”

       Albertson agreed that freshmen have shown the most school spirit. 

        “It feels like this year we have more freshmen who are willing to go above and beyond compared to previous years,” he said. “It used to seem like the juniors and seniors ran everything to do with school spirit. This year’s freshmen I think have taken a large leap in showing their spirit. I think the grade level is pretty evenly spread out. The bigger issue is that each grade only has five or six students who show a lot of school spirit.” 

        He stated that the football team is the heart of school spirit. 

        “It is Salem,” Albertson said. “We have and always have been a football school. Even when our football team struggled, the players always tried to bring the energy and that translated to the other students in the stands. With higher turnouts in student attendance than other sports.” 

        Bowling believes that the seniors and football team have shown the most school spirit. “I think the football team shows the most school spirit, because they are always hyping up before games.”

        Foster said the class of ‘26 has shown the most school spirit, since they have attended most athletic events. 

        “I think there was a little improvement from last year,” he said. “We just need to give the students a reason to show up at events and cheer on. Be there for your school. Cheer people on and put spirit back into the school. This can be counted by giving students something to be excited about. Make them want to put the spirit back into the school.”