Shortage of School Spirit Due to Scarcity of Events
Upon returning to in-person instruction, fewer on-campus activities have been planned at school.
By Bibi Sediqi
Upon returning to in-person instruction, fewer on-campus activities have been planned at school.
By Bibi Sediqi
School events such as dances, rallies and games, are what help build student body engagement. These occasions are vital for students to better connect with each other and engage in school spirit. Since the return to campus for the 2020-2021 school year, these events have dropped significantly in numbers.
As a result of the ongoing pandemic, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has placed new restrictions on school events and indoor maximum occupancy sizes. This minimizes the size and regularity of school events as there are more safety precautions that need to be met during planning.
“The county guidelines either allow it or they don’t and because of the indoor restrictions we can’t necessarily hold as many events,” said Activities Director Michelle Mayhew.
Leadership student Hailey Hernandez, 9, found that school spirit has depleted during the past year, as students transitioned back to in-person school while not being fully assured of their safety.
“We couldn’t really have a rally like we used to have and dances like we used to. We couldn’t do games at our rally or much interaction with the crowd. We couldn’t have an indoor dance nor any guests at our dance. So people weren’t as pumped about the events because they were limited,” said Hernandez.
Although there are fewer bigger events such as dances and rallies, the leadership class is trying to encourage student spirit using other methods.
“We are always working to do little events like selling hot chocolate or giving out little notes before finals or sending candy grams, but when we do events, people don’t understand that it does take a lot of time and that we’re not just sitting in class all day doing nothing, we’re working towards an event that we’re going to get done later on,” said Layla Shukla-Degen, 9.
Despite their efforts to keep events CDC compliant, leadership still runs into difficulties while planning events as safety guidelines change over time.
“This year has for sure been the hardest to plan because of the pandemic guidelines. Almost all of our events have to be outside with masking required. So many things can go wrong with outdoor events too, weather, crashers, harder to manage, etc. We also have to condemn the fact that we have to keep distance sometimes, which is very hard to manage considering the fact that we are all high schoolers and that our top priority isn’t always to be safe and is to just have fun,” said Hernandez.
Students see school events as a way to bond and get more involved at school.
“Personally I would like to see more of the dance team performances and school rallies,” said Tara Perniciaro, 9.
As a result of the ongoing pandemic, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has placed new restrictions on school events and indoor maximum occupancy sizes. This minimizes the size and regularity of school events as there are more safety precautions that need to be met during planning.
“The county guidelines either allow it or they don’t and because of the indoor restrictions we can’t necessarily hold as many events,” said Activities Director Michelle Mayhew.
Leadership student Hailey Hernandez, 9, found that school spirit has depleted during the past year, as students transitioned back to in-person school while not being fully assured of their safety.
“We couldn’t really have a rally like we used to have and dances like we used to. We couldn’t do games at our rally or much interaction with the crowd. We couldn’t have an indoor dance nor any guests at our dance. So people weren’t as pumped about the events because they were limited,” said Hernandez.
Although there are fewer bigger events such as dances and rallies, the leadership class is trying to encourage student spirit using other methods.
“We are always working to do little events like selling hot chocolate or giving out little notes before finals or sending candy grams, but when we do events, people don’t understand that it does take a lot of time and that we’re not just sitting in class all day doing nothing, we’re working towards an event that we’re going to get done later on,” said Layla Shukla-Degen, 9.
Despite their efforts to keep events CDC compliant, leadership still runs into difficulties while planning events as safety guidelines change over time.
“This year has for sure been the hardest to plan because of the pandemic guidelines. Almost all of our events have to be outside with masking required. So many things can go wrong with outdoor events too, weather, crashers, harder to manage, etc. We also have to condemn the fact that we have to keep distance sometimes, which is very hard to manage considering the fact that we are all high schoolers and that our top priority isn’t always to be safe and is to just have fun,” said Hernandez.
Students see school events as a way to bond and get more involved at school.
“Personally I would like to see more of the dance team performances and school rallies,” said Tara Perniciaro, 9.