Over the past few years here at Germantown Academy, there has been a severe decline in school spirit. Especially in 2024, the spirit at Germantown Academy has dropped quickly. For example, there were supposed to be two fan buses, one that was planning on going to Episcopal Academy for the Patriot’s white-out football game, and another one that was going to go to Notre Dame for volleyball’s PAISSA championship game. Unfortunately, in the end, both of these buses got canceled due to a lack of interest.
Another event where spirit has dropped was Spirit Week. Spirit Week occurs during the week before one of the biggest matches that Germantown Academy’s student-athletes look forward to every year: GA-PC Day. From what I saw on Nov. 3 2024 , there was barely anyone in spirit. The theme was supposed to be Wacky Wednesday or Anything but a Backpack Day. But, from what I witnessed throughout the day, about 75 percent of the Upper School brought their backpacks, and some people just decided to throw on a black hoodie and gray sweatpants and call it a day.
One of the main reasons that school spirit might probably be low right now is lack of interest, especially during Spirit Week. Students might not want to participate in some of the activities because they might not find the themes appealing to them.
A simple solution to that problem would be for the Student Government Association to send out a Google Form to the Upper School students and ask them what Spirit Week themes they want. This can make students feel like their ideas are heard and can make them feel excited about dressing up for Spirit Week.
Some factors that might stop students from going to games are too much homework and lack of time. For example, the football fan bus happened during the last week of the first interim. For some students, the first interim can be very difficult, as they are faced with a rise of assessments and papers that they need to complete before the interim ends. Academics are very important to students and if they are studying for 5-7 assessments a week, there is no way they can find time to attend these games.
For me, I haven’t been to any of the games, mainly due to a lot of homework and lots of assessments to study for. I would have liked to go to the Episcopal game, but I had four assessments to study for and countless homework assignments. Another reason was the following: “If you ride the bus there you must ride the bus back no exceptions.” What if someone lived down the street from the away school? It would be truly a waste of time for the parent to drive 30 minutes to GA to pick up their child rather than picking them up at the hosting school.
I would be compelled to attend more games if the timing of these buses were not at the end of a marking period and if I were allowed to be picked up at the game. Perhaps, on the sign up form for the buses, a question could be added: “Are you going to ride the bus back to GA or get picked up by a parent at the opposing school?”
Lastly, at school, we could do grade competitions for Spirit Week. Some good options would be which grade/advisory is the best dressed, with a prize of a dress down day. This could boost student interest by giving them a reward.
Although there is a bit of a dip in school spirit, I believe this problem can be fixed with some changes. We can ask for student recommendations for spirit week, make game times and transportation more reasonable and give students a reward for participating in the school spirit events.