In previous years, Freedom High School has been notorious for lacking school spirit. The attendance at sports games was terribly low and the majority of students had a dismissive attitude towards our school.

“I remember last year students seemed like they were embarrassed of our school and football team. Almost no one went to games and if they were students they would barely ever cheer them,” said sophomore Bethany Mahoney.

Any school spirit we did have was inappropriate. For instance, Freedom’s former tradition was to boo freshman at pep rallies. Recently our school made a positive change in school spirit to try and mend prior reputations.

“Students never took pride in our school, but this year everybody’s attitude has changed. Our football team has even improved a lot,” said sophomore Rachel Diioia.

At the first football game, Freedom was immersed with students wearing red to show support for our school; a shift serving proof that many of the administration’s ideas about school spirit are working.

“Almost everybody was wearing red or Freedom shirts and the people who didn’t felt bad. I even saw some people change into shirts that were red,” said sophomore Tori Millington.

On the night of the football game with Wharton High School, Freedom managed to completely fill our student section.

“Since it was an away game, we would think that the spirit would go down because not many people would want to travel, but the attendance was absolutely perfect. Everyone was loud, everyone was dancing and even the band felt welcome with the students and that was awesome,” said senior Ryan Williamson.

Not to mention, thanks to Student Government our first pep rally of the school year was a complete success. Students were full of enthusiasm and the freshman were not booed.

“Knowing that the upperclassman were not going to boo us was a relief. I think the freshman weren’t as nervous and overall the pep rally went really well,” said freshman Shelby Quay Ernst.

Additionally, a new club has been created at our school called Patriot Pack. The club’s main goal is to boost Freedom’s school spirit and get students more involved.

All things considered, Freedom has certainly improved its school spirit. In that case, let’s hope that Freedom only continues to get better.

“This year Freedom has really stepped up its school spirit and the students are also more enthusiastic,” said junior Ava Milani.

FSA Connection Questions:

1. In the article, the word dismissive means what?
2. Select two sentences from the article that support the idea the Freedom’s school spirit has improved.
3. The author seems to offer what main idea?
4. Select a sentence that best summarizes the efforts that students are making to increase school support.
5. How does the author support their main idea?