Saratoga’s school spirit is dead.

We’ve only had one rally this year. Our football games are more often than not a motley blend of colors rather than a sea of red. People who actually show a semblance of spirit are derided and laughed at by others. I’ve heard many variations of attacks on school spirit, including such vitriolic remarks such as, “Spirit doesn’t get you into college, so why bother?” and “Rallies are fake and loud.”

This isn’t new. The school’s spirit has been in decline for a long time, and the ubiquitous academic pressure that permeates through the school is perhaps to blame. 

It isn’t much of a secret that few remember, let alone dress up for, spirit days. It isn’t much of a secret that the visitors’ football bleachers are often more full than our own. It isn’t much of a secret that dozens of people sit in the library during rallies, just a few yards away from the gym, trying their best to ignore the sounds and music emanating from the nearby building.

For many, a second not studying is a second wasted. And I can’t blame them — the pressure to do well academically, to get nothing but straight-A’s, is sky-high here.

But people need to understand that a half-hour rally’s not going to kill them or their grade. Yeah, I know that grades are important, and I work my butt off to get good grades. But still, I go to football games and cheer for the team until my throat hurts. When I leave this school a couple years from now, I don’t want to leave with no memories other than those of studious toil. I want to leave with the knowledge that I managed to get every little bit out of the high school experience.

One peculiar thing I’ve noticed about the school’s spirit is that there really isn’t a lack of spirited people. However, the general mood of the student population is apathetic toward any sort of spirit. 

This causes many people who would have been spirited to act indifferent to school spirit in an attempt to fit in. Having school spirit, it seems, is unpopular and a cause for embarrassment. It really is the cool thing to say, “I don’t care about school spirit” or “I have better things to do than go to the rally.” I’ll admit, I’ve even said it a few times when people said I was too enthusiastic about school events.

But as dismal as the situation sounds, all hope isn’t lost just yet — we can revive our spirit. We need to drop this charade about having homework to do or not caring about spirit. If only everyone who cares just stopped pretending that they didn’t care, we’d have a much more lively school. And hey, who wouldn’t want that?