Friday is notoriously the best day because it ends the work week but more so, for its bright lights and Spartan pride. For each game, home or away, the Hempfield Area student body comes together and supports our football team, band, and cheerleaders. While our student section is great, there’s always room for improvement. Cooper Santangelo, one of the student section leaders, shares that students can get more involved by “cheering at every game and following each chant that we start”.
This year, student section leaders include Cooper Santangelo and myself, Nico Kapusta. The goal: to come together, full of energy, for a purpose- cheering louder and prouder than ever. With a 2-0 record, this seems like an easy task, but it takes more than just yelling individual remarks to motivate our players. Rather, its a collective and collaborative effort that produces the best results.
Santangelo says, “supporting and cheering on our Spartans for the entire duration of the game no matter what!” is the definition of school spirit.
Beyond showing spirit, there are many things students can do to make the student section the best it can be:
- Sit by Seniority: That means seniors up front, juniors to follow, sophomores next, and freshmen in the back. Each year, as students learn the chants and age into the next grade; they step forward like a right of passage.
- Follow the Student Section Leaders: Each chant will be started by a leader and should be repeated 3x by the student section.
- Cheer with the Cheerleaders: Do you best to follow along with the squad who is there to help us promote the most spirit.
- Dress in Theme: Participate in the theme each- see photo below!
- Don’t Throw Items: We want to keep our section clean and orderly so that we can continue to have the privilege of a student section
- Cheer for Us: Our goal is to cheer on our Spartans- not taunt or ridicule the opposing team and their schools. So, keep it classy.
- Show up! The more the merrier.
It may seem like the year has only started, but the next thing you know, you’ll be cheering at your last game. So savor these moments while you can. Senior Lukas Murray shares his advice saying, “The advice I would give to the underclassmen who are new to the [experience] would be to enjoy it, be loud, and be into the game”. This advice is great for underclassmen and upperclassmen alike. The more we cheer, the more it supports our Spartans.
In the words of Macklemore, “tonight is night; fight ’til it’s over… the ceiling can’t hold us.” Let’s make every Friday night, the night and let nothing hold us back.
