“Root Hog or Die!” is a popular slogan among us Pirates for our school’s football team. The slogan is on a lot of merchandise and shows school spirit. There are many ways to show some “Pirate Pride,” but these are a few of the most efficient ways of showing your support for our school.
Let’s start with the benefits of being involved at school. Participation in extracurricular activities contributes to the process of improving school spirit. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, participation in extracurricular activities can positively affect you personally as a student. “Recent research suggests that participation in extracurricular activities may increase students’ sense of engagement or attachment to their school, and thereby decrease the likelihood of school failure and dropping out.”
The first way you can show “Pirate Pride” is by participating in extracurricular activities. Becoming a member of clubs and joining sports teams are efficient ways to become involved in the Pirate community. Many posters are displayed around the school with information about specific clubs and their time and place of meeting.
Service clubs such as the Earth Club, Key Club and Rotary Interact can help with personal engagement in the community and the people and environment around us. Other clubs such as the Foreign Language Club, Art Club and FFA can assist with finding your hobbies and topics of interest. Your counselor can give specific information and provide more options for different clubs and sports.
You can also show “Pirate Pride” by attending sports events. Fall sports include football, girls tennis, boys soccer, volleyball, golf, swimming, and cross country. Although not expected, being present at home games is encouraged and appreciated by the sports teams.
“It builds energy and momentum for the team,” JV Volleyball Coach Kristina Kore said. She says that team supporters at games positively affect her and her players by motivating players and building intensity. This can demonstrate how being involved in the after-school activities will show your school spirit. The school website has full schedules available for the fall sports for those who are interested. Many students dress to a certain theme and cheer for the Pirates in the student section at these home football games to display their support for the team.
Speaking of dressing a certain way, another way to show “Pirate Pride” is to wear spirit wear. This is the simplest and the most obvious way to show school spirit. At many sporting events, spirit wear is sold for all the Pirate fans to wear. Wearing spirit wear outside of school can be an effective way to represent our school and show support for our Pirate community.
Spirit wear is not the only thing you can wear to show school spirit, but also dressing up for spirit weeks increases your engagement at school. According to Ares Sportswear, wearing spirit wear boosts school representation: “The truth is that the vast majority of students who actually enjoy wearing their school’s spirit wear during their free time will actually spread positivity while out and about within your broader community.”
Being active in the school community will demonstrate your school spirit in more ways than one, and it can also bring personal benefits that many would not have thought about before now. Make sure to be a positive figure when representing our school, and always show your school pride.
