By Kimberley Perez
Being able to feel like a community with fellow students is an important part of our four years of high school as it creates memories and bonds. This sense of community is often thought of as school spirit.
Many people learned the value of connecting with each other after we were not allowed on campus for a year and a half due to the pandemic. High school cannot be the same without in-person connections and many want, more than ever, to have the chance to feel connected to their classmates and school.
However, in order for us to have true school spirit, we need more than just conversations in a hallway or chats in a classroom. We need a stronger effort from the administration and the teams on campus to be able to truly create that community. We need activities and plans.
“School spirit is what makes our high school a community. Without it, the student body will feel no connection to each other. There could be more events to make the school feel more interconnected especially after the covid crisis,” senior Joselin Maximo said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak and students had to stay at home, students craved the activities offered at school and now that we are back to in-person school, many students want more.
“We sometimes have school spirit like at the homecoming game and spirit week but the school should be doing more for the students to be able to come together,” senior Monique Patino said.
The school does the minimum at least by offering us a safe space and a quality education that we can be proud of. However, being proud of your school and having school spirit are not the same thing.
It is necessary that the school recognizes that students also need to have a break to be themselves with fellow classmates.
“It would boost the morale of the students if we had more activities,” senior Delia Peralta said.
The amount of students attending GHC should make an even stronger student union, but steps need to be taken in order for students to feel a part of a larger group instead of just an individual in a crowd of other students.
“This is my first official [in-person] year on campus so I cannot help but feel really disappointed with the school spirit found at Granada,” senior Samantha Anaya said. “I would recommend playing music at lunch, because a simple thing like that amps up the students’ happiness levels by a ton.”
Creating a light-hearted atmosphere is one small thing that students love. Songs that we all enjoy enable students to connect and just have a good time.
“More types of spirit weeks would be engaging for the students as well,” Delia Peralta said.
While the majority of the campus does not participate, lots of students love spirit week as we are able to dress up and support our particular class for a week. Why not have spirit weeks or spirit days more often? Maybe more students would participate if it was more frequent. Seeing other students participating makes you want to join in.
Overall, we appreciate what is already being done to create school spirit, but we need more in order to create a welcoming environment and will make students feel connected to the larger community at GHC.
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