By Taylor Dingman, Staff Writer
El Camino’s student body used to be spirited, outgoing and fun, but that isn’t the case now.
After COVID-19 forced students to retreat to their homes and miss all activities for a year and a half, EC students and staff are not as spirited as they used to be.
During recent football games against Armijo and Cordova, barely any students remained in the student section, and if there were any, half of them left before halftime.
The Screaming Eagles, a group of senior students who advise spirit during events, do their best to keep everyone involved and cheer loudly for the EC football team, but so many students stay silent, or some students even walk away to sit somewhere else so they don’t have to cheer.
Ava Mclean (’24) emphasizes that students go to the football games, get dressed up, but by the time the second or third quarter has ended, barely anybody is left in the student section.
The whole point of having a Screaming Eagle section is to support our football team and get them more excited about their game so they have more confidence to play better.
“The football boys turn around [and] get everybody hyped, but there’s [only] 10 people so it’s not really hype anymore,” Mclean stated.
Before the pandemic, the student section used to be full to the top of the bleachers. Now, it barely covers three of them. I often see students leaving events early because they’re ‘bored’, but during the event, I see those same students not getting involved or even trying to have fun.
Athletic Director’s Assistant Zenaida Kamine believes that the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on students, especially the incoming freshman. She emphasizes that incoming freshmen didn’t have the middle school experience, so they don’t know what’s expected or wanted when it comes to school spirit.
EC’s Student Government class works hard to put on fun school activities, then barely any students show up. I hear the excuse of ‘I didn’t know about it,’ from many students all over campus, but in reality, this isn’t the case.
Student Government puts up posters all over the school explaining the details of school events coming up. Not only that, there are multiple EC social media accounts that also advertise upcoming school events. They have multiple Instagram accounts, a Twitter account, a Facebook account, and even a TikTok account just to try and get students attention. Students shouldn’t be embarrassed to support their school.
Junior Class President Addison Ponder (’24) states that the rally went well considering EC hasn’t had one in almost three years, but spirit overall isn’t doing great.
“I definitely think we could do better. I don’t think there’s any spirit right now,” Ponder says.
When it comes to spirit days, less than half of the school actually dresses up. But what if there are some things EC could do to start getting the spirit higher?
Small rallies, similar to what EC had last year during lunch, would be a great way to try and start getting more students involved. Especially for this year’s freshman, it would be a great way to get them used to the rallies and what kind of spirit EC is expecting.
Bringing back these small rallies and events during lunch would be a productive and efficient way to get students more involved and more excited about upcoming events at EC.
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