Alex Llerena ’17

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I recently spoke to Spirit Club moderator Ms. Jessica Herrick and club board member Pierce Kotarski. We talked about how the club wants to increase school spirit across the board.

Ms. Herrick said that plans for the club did not really begin to take place until the summer during the Crusader Crew retreat.

“As they were talking about different ways to incorporate freshmen on campus, one of the areas of particular interest was school spirit.”

Ms. Herrick stated that the plans for the club were consequently made during the rest of the summer. Pierce added, “Later in the summer, during freshman orientation, was when we really started getting the club going.”

Starting the club so soon seems to be a formidable task for a club that has already signed up 133 students just this first quarter.

The club would really like to integrate itself into a wide variety of aspects in student life. Ms. Herrick stated, “The goal is to make sure we are building community first and foremost; to make sure there is a sense of brotherhood, and a sense of acceptance for every sport, every activity, that could conceivably done on campus.”

As a result, a very conceivable goal that the club has set is to try to attend as many events as possible. Both Ms. Herrick and Kotasrski agreed that their greatest achievement so far has been gathering the support of the student body at recent football games.

In order to ensure this year will be different in terms of spirit, both Ms. Herrick and Kotarski agreed that they would like to have more spirit that is original to our campus and that they want to be able to set traditions.

Their goal is to try to get to a point from which they can build from in future years to ultimately increase school participation in events. Ms. Herrick said, “We’re trying to come up with as many different and varied ideas as possible to make sure that there is a student presence.”

So far, the spirit club has certainly done a great job of increasing spirit at football games. The club will definitely have a permanent impact on school spirit, since Spirit Club students have proven that they are willing to support our teams at their games. They certainly have the resources and have proven that they can impact student participation, so students should be sure to be on the look for the Spirit Club in future sporting events.