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Declining school spirit
by Alexander Linstad
Due to unforeseen circumstances Nashua North has planned and canceled two pep rallies in the span of 2 months.
After COVID-19, many students reportedly lost a previous connection/ allegiance they may have had with their school. Once this adjustment period after COVID-19 was done, Nashua North hoped to resolve this through the pep rally.
In the one and a half years after we were fully damasked with precautions lifted, no pep rallies were held due to an administration pushback. Kristen Ellspermann, a math teacher, and the senior class student council advisor believes the abrupt change in thought process happened due to the fact, “We had that speaker, who did the freshman-sophomores and juniors-seniors in the auditorium together, then we saw that kids could behave.”
Covid also led to all sorts of behavioral issues not experienced in prior generations due to a lack of socialization in vital years of their lives. Mrs. Ellspermann for one was “really excited about it”
This pep rally however was not completely met with content amongst teachers. Jocelyn Merrill, an English teacher at North, was worried about, “ [for the first time]since before COVID… being in a large group setting where I feel like I have little to no control over what's happening.”
The seeming lack of planning and care put into potential hazards by both council and administration can be held accountable for this. She believes that “pep rallies haven’t always had that clarity, and I worry that once kids start to get bored and they disengage, I worry that that is where some of the misbehavior might come from.” With proper preparation and refined structure, the problems she describes can be alleviated.
Within the student body support seemed to be a mixed bag. Representing the sophomore class, sophomore Amayah De Pina, age 16, self-proclaimed “the best sophomore ever” says her school spirit is at an all-time high, when asked she said, “Oh hell yeah! I’ll be screaming! Then when we have the big football games with the themes… I go all out. “
She makes it a goal to attend as many football games and basketball games as possible. She feels like this sentiment was shared amongst her friends due to their eagerness to attend.
On the other side of the spectrum, there is Ayush Chakraborty, a senior, declared to Pennsylvania State University. During his time at Nashua North, he didn’t attend any major games such as Battle of the Bridge, or any playoff games.
His theory of the decline of school spirit at Nashua North is “other than [sports]... I don’t think we have any outreach in stuff that's not math or science.”
For all the students such as Ayush in which sports hold little interest, it is quite easy to feel left out of the subculture of Nashua North.
In his time attending Penn State, he hopes to change this by attending sports games and if a pep rally were to be held, attending as well.
Amongst all of those who were interviewed the risk of fights breaking out was of large concern.
Ellspermann exclaims, “I think if we do it right before the Battle of the Bridge in the fall [of 2024], people would be excited and pumped about it, and will have plenty of time to practice and be sort of ready for it.” Only time will tell if the intended effects of pep rallies will work in 2024 and after.
