As spirit week, pep rally, and fall sports come to an end, students don’t seem to be affected by the nostalgia that is usually present at the close of spirited festivities mind too much. A noticeable wave of students lacking commitment to Hereford has struck the zone. Do we just not have the same spirit as we used to? Are the students tired of winning everything?

“I think the whole community is used to being good at stuff, and they forget they need to show up and have fans,” Nicole Maffei, adviser of spirit club, said. “We are good academically, our sports and theatre productions are awesome, we have an amazing choir and band, our dance team is fantastic and that doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate fan support, and we need to do a better job of supporting all of our students by showing up and being there.”

Spirit club is striving to pump people up by holding new “spirit events,” which are intended to draw fans to support their sports teams, but Maffei says that “we are still struggling to get people super motivated to come.”
In years past, pep rallies have been nothing but exciting competition between grades for the most points, but the underclassmen seemed to have kept themselves this time around. The sophomores’ single chant at pep rally got shut down quickly by the seniors’ rebuttal: “Sit down sophomores!” Not a word was heard out of the freshmen. Why so quiet?
The week leading up to pep rally was no different.
“I’m actually kind of disappointed at the participation numbers overall,” Maffei said. At her high school, it was “almost weirder if you didn’t dress up,” but not at Hereford, where it was about split for most spirit days.
According to the 2018 spirit week stats, the senior class only won 100 points. Compared to years past this quite the disappointment. Seniors would normally destroy the others grades and have no competition.
Is it the senior class who is setting the tone for the school?
“I think that the senior class has less big personalities,” Maffei added. The stands feel rather empty for the seniors this year in contrast with years past when the gymnasium would be filled with the seniors loud chant that said, “I believe that we will win,” as they stuck it out until the last minute of a game.