It’s a common complaint amongst Lakeside students that Lakeside has bad school spirit.
When Tatler interviewed three random groups of students outside the WCC during lunchtime, only a group of four freshmen described Lakeside as having good school spirit. Lilian Y. ’29 shared it’s “pretty good because our sports teams do spirit day every time we have a meet against another school.” Greta R. ’29 added that “everyone always gets really excited for all the games.”
Conversely, senior DeeDee M. ’26 responded “absolutely not” to the question of if Lakeside has much spirit. Aisha A. ’26 agreed, adding that “even for sports games, it’s not common to see a lot of students… because we’re constantly busy and all have our own things.“ Two sophomores also shared this negative sentiment.
Why do certain Lakesiders feel a sense of low spirit? Well, Isabel W. ’26, leader of the Purple house, suggests that Lakeside’s reputation is a problem when students attend off-campus events since some “people think of us as, rich, stuck-up, super overprivileged.”
To Isabel, school spirit means “being excited to be part of a community and having people that are going to support you.” She cites house assemblies and houses’ unconditional support, adding, “everyone is excited to be part of it, and they’re rooting for each other… and they have people in their heart.”
Spirit is the “ultimate purpose” of house assemblies, Isabel noted. In this fashion, to boost spirit, she announces that there will be three instead of two house assemblies this year. Some future ideas she has are non-assembly house competitions like fundraising competitions, and a “very unofficial” idea, a dance related to the houses.
To explain the frequent complaining on spirit, Isabel thinks the spirit, or the lack thereof, is “just so visible to the students.”
“I think [that] for the students there’s this idea of, like, a high school experience, … Friday night football games and school dances. So sometimes, especially as an underclassman, if you show up to an event and there’s not really anybody there, you feel a lack of [spirit].” And, as students grow older, Isabel argues that school spirit is “not as obvious when you’ve been here for longer because you’ve come to expect that.”
How can Lakeside address this issue, then? Dr. Bynum has already begun doing so with his advisory pride challenge, and Isabel believes this and other incentives could be useful. Advisory competitions or house challenges could even work. Last, daily announcements over a speaker system to promote team games hold promise.
“Lakeside has not always had the best presence at athletic events. Dr. Bynum’s speech, I think, was really good for us… more people will go out if it’s done the right way,” she says.
“It’s definitely a vicious cycle, because if no one shows up, it’s not fun, people don’t come back again. But it’s definitely true that the more people go, the more people will go.”
Nathan Hale
Similar to Lakeside, Nathan Hale students say their school isn’t very spirited, explains Fiona D. ’27
As a member of the Class of 2027 Associated Students of Nathan Hale (ASNH), she notes she’s a “pretty spirited person” who gets “pretty hyped up about things.” Speaking of hype, Fiona points out that “the people who are actually spirited are pretty passionate about it.” She laughs, remembering being surprised at a group of guys who’d show up to football games shirtless with letters printed on their backs.
Nevertheless, she also remembers attending a game against Foster High School and sitting in stands devoid of students. All in all, she estimates the student section is usually “even at our peak, equal to or less than the amount of students [in] a regular football game for a lot of different schools.”
Fiona supposes a neighbor effect is causing school spirit to seem more downcast than it is. “If we were surrounded by Franklin and Rainier Beach and Cleveland, we’d probably feel like we’re the better school because our sports are better than theirs,” she says. “But since we’re around other schools like Lincoln and Roosevelt, [we’re] the underdog… honestly, our school’s not that bad. It’s just when you look at the other schools near us … their sports teams are stronger … or their school dances are bigger.”.
Event wise, ASNH also hosts two spirit assemblies per year, where students crowd into a gym and compete in wacky games like “Mario Kart” — scooter racing in the gym — and sword fighting with pool noodles, right before their homecoming or winter ball. In fact, Fiona recalls that the spirit assemblies were one of her most memorable moments at Nathan Hale, remembering a strong feeling of connection within her grade setting aside their differences to fight for victory.
The spirit preceding the assembly, it’s a mad scramble between the grades to rack up the most points before the week ends. Classes can earn points by dressing in theme each day. Occasionally, a “spirit stick” is hidden around campus for grades to find, although Fiona admits the “whole thing’s kind of rigged” — the seniors always win, she says. But nobody cares. The real prize is who’s second or third.
Students aren’t the only ones having fun these weeks, either. Teachers, Fiona remarks, like to join in on the fun too. About three-quarters will participate in at least one spirit day.
“There’s this teacher, and no matter what the dress-up day is, he’ll always go full out. For decades day, the seniors’ decade was like the 80s, and he wore a full-on 80s jumpsuit. Crazy hairstyle and stuff.”
Sadly, not all plans come to fruition. ASNH tried to host a movie night to fundraise for Spring Fling. Despite having all plans ready a month in advance, three weeks of selling tickets at lunch, an online link, and video promotion amounted to only three sign-ups. Where did it go wrong? Fiona hypothesizes it’s the disparity between ASNH’s and students’ perceptions of what events would actually be fun.
Dances, too, are a struggle. Homecoming last year, for a school of 1200, was their most successful dance in recent years, with 300-400 tickets sold. But the following Spring Fling only managed to sell 150 tickets. Again, Fiona supposes that the reputation that the dances would be boring or nobody would attend is at fault.
Although students lead busy lives — “we’re teenagers,” she adds — Fiona still believes a lack of spirit ultimately comes down to choice.
“People choose not to. They choose not to go to the dance, or they choose not to dress up, or they choose not to go to the football game.”
“Honestly, I think it just comes down to students taking initiative to be like, ‘Hey, friend, come with me to the game.’ That would definitely change the climate.”
Lincoln
“Lincoln has a good spirit,” says Lou S. ’27, a spirit leader for Lincoln High School.
As a member of the Spirit Committee, she works with other students to help the Associated Student Body (ASB) plan spirit weeks and host Lynx Olympics, the flagship event of the year. Aside from four elected spirit leaders and one spirit coordinator in charge, many students, around 10-20 per weekly meeting, show up to help.
At Lincoln, “most people [are] confident in who they are, and that they can have fun and be goofy at school.” To her, this fun in everyday school life is the essence of school spirit.
Specifically, a core memory for her are Lincoln’s football games. Especially for newer students, it’s a great chance to meet new people. Students, descending with seniority, stand “shoulder to shoulder” with their neighbors in the spectator section. “You just talk to whoever’s next to you,” she said. “You’re just with your classmates in your school, and you all have a common goal.”
Every time, she notes, Lincoln students fill the stands. In fact, their student section is “almost always bigger than the other teams.” As a kick, students “really show out for themes,” she notes. “On [the theme] ‘Sporting,’ I don’t know how many binoculars I saw, but it was a lot.”
Lou adds indoor sports like volleyball and basketball also get great turnout.
To boost this spirit, Lincoln has a marching band of about 50 students that plays at sports games, but more prominently, a cheerleading squad of roughly 20 students, which Lou describes as “super connected within the entire school.” Seventy percent of students are athletes, she notes, and cheer is the “backbone” of it all. They show up to every football game, most basketball games, and a lot of volleyball games, all whilst competing at a state level.
“The cheerleaders help us a lot,” Lou notes, “especially at assemblies because they really get people pumped, on their feet, and bring people out of their shell.”
To shoot higher, Lou explains that though Lincoln’s participation is good, she hopes the spirit committee and ASB will reach out to more students and ask them to take initiative. For her, that’s prioritizing talking to people and “branching out” to get as many people involved in the “web of spirit” as possible.
“The more people who do it, the more fun it is, the more we feel connected, the more we can bring people out of their shell and celebrate having fun.”
Overall, Lou summarizes “spirit at Lincoln is really hype. A lot of people participate; obviously, there’s so many more people to gain. But it’s really, I think, what makes Lincoln special.”
Roosevelt
To Gabby S. ’27, treasurer on the Associated Students of Roosevelt (ASR) executive council, school spirit is “when a school feels like a community.”
“School spirit can come in so many different forms. And as student leaders, it’s our job to provide as many opportunities for students to feel welcome as possible.” That’s why ASR established Rider Athletics, an Instagram account that highlights “all the sports at Roosevelt that are going on, rather than just the most popular ones.”
Additionally, this year, Gabby mentions ASR is planning to create an arts and culture program to highlight music and visual arts programs as well, which she notes are “really big” at Roosevelt. For example, theater not only performs two musicals annually but also skits in front of the school. Their orchestra also performs in the commons of Roosevelt some Fridays of every month, creating a “really amazing way to just start the day.”
As for athletics, Gabby notes “we have a lot of great school participation,” but she mentions she’s still trying to work for more participation.
One big event at Roosevelt are its pep rallies, which occur on Fridays before breaks or dances. In these assemblies, sports captains share team announcements, and students compete in games such as a faculty-versus-student dance-off. In fact, “sometimes, when it’s football season, we’ll have some football guys [play] a game against each other.”
“I think especially the pep assembly is where you really get to see our school spirit in the past couple of years,” Gabby notes. “People talk a lot about [how in] the transition since COVID … our school spirit has, like, exponentially grown. Staff talk about this all the time … how Roosevelt’s come back together.”
The big event of the year is Moving Up Day. Hosted in May, it’s a “very senior-focused event,” Gabby notes. In a big pep assembly at the beginning of the day, seniors receive awards, like valedictorians or scholarships. After, the school is let out to a “huge field day,” with a petting zoo, food trucks, snow balloons, and face painting, to name a few events.
“It’s kind of like a last hurrah for the seniors, too. It’s a very special day at Roosevelt,” she notes.
Roosevelt has a cheerleading team, but also a hype squad within ASR that helps lead games and activities during assemblies.
To sum it up, Gabby explains that “we’re so lucky to have [school spirit] show through in a lot of different ways … athletics, our arts. So, yes, I think Roosevelt has amazing school spirit.”
Bush
Though Bush is a private school of 737 students, with 319 in the upper school, Nyomi B. ’26, class president and social committee member, notes, “In the upper school, we have school spirit. I think it could be show[n] a little bit more. But we have school spirit.”
To her, school spirit means “repping our school, having fun and, especially being in a K-12 school, supporting each other [in] the diverse and really special community we have.”
Despite not having a football team, she notes that Bush students “definitely have a strong support for some of our teams,” and love to show up to events, naming Blazer Bash specifically (The Blazers are Bush’s athletic teams and mascot).
Blazer Bash is similar to Lakeside’s tailgates: they happen three times a year, one for each sports season. Usually on Friday nights, the lower, middle, and upper school students would all come hang out on the field or gym to watch a game and enjoy popcorn, pizza, or even Chick-fil-A. During lunch, there would be desserts courtesy of parents, as well as face painting.
“[It] is one of the things that I look towards throughout the year,” notes Nyomi. “It’s always been something that’s really made me feel part of the Bush community.”
In terms of athletics, Nyomi remarks that there’s good attendance at games. For example, their first girls volleyball game had “really good attendance.” Part of the reason why, Nyomi notes, is the custom of lots of senior support. It’s a “general school vibe,” she explains, because seniors in their last year at Bush want to get involved.
In terms of improvements, Nyomi wants to see more student-led activities during the school day. However, she notes that overall, Bush is “getting a lot better in school spirit. Our sports teams are doing really well right now, so that’s really amplifying the school spirit.”
“And it’s my senior year, so I’m excited to cheer on the teams,” she says. “It’s important that we bring people together, and it brings me joy to see other people happy. I hope that this year can be one of the best school spirit years that we’ve had so far.”