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As the new school year begins, many people including advisors, cheerleaders, and student body officers are ready to incorporate school spirit in ways students haven’t seen before.
One of the biggest ways that students feel school spirit and unity is through pep assemblies, this year is no exception. After a leadership conference this summer, the NS student council leaders and teachers have made changes to the pep assemblies, with a goal to make students feel more included.
“One of our goals as the student body officers is to make sure everyone feels like they belong and they are a part of this school,” said activity agent Beau Jacobson.
The biggest change made to the pep assemblies is having each individual class wear a different color on the days of assemblies. Without any specific inspiration for each color, seniors wear white, juniors wear green, sophomores red, and freshman blue. The idea behind this was that if each class wore their color, they would feel more united as a class, and it could increase the fun competitive nature of the activities at pep assemblies.
“We thought, let’s incorporate the colors, and when kids know that there is a pep assembly, they can kind of get dressed up that day and have fun with it,” said advisor Austin Ison.
One of the main aspects of pep assemblies are the fun games that every student can feel invited to participate in. In the past years there was some repetition in what students were usually willing to get up and play in front of everyone, but this year the games are meant to reach every audience and group of students.
“Maybe those who normally are a little hesitant will feel like they are welcome to get up and participate, and play and represent their class,” Ison said.
School spirit is extremely important in maintaining a positive environment and learning space for the students. The more students who participate in things like pep assemblies, the more united they become.
“I think having school spirit brings the kids together, but then it also gives us pride for our school and the great things that happen here at North Sanpete,” Ison said.
School spirit can be seen in other areas of the school as well though, in things like club and sports activities.
“I play sports and it’s really nice when you have a student section there for your game and just to see the support, and I know that when I go to other games I gain respect for those teams,” Jacobson said.
The main sport that comes up in conversation when talking about school spirit is cheer. The cheerleaders have a chance at pep assemblies to show what cheers they have learned, and students get the chance to learn as they watch.
“It was fun last time to teach everyone the cheers, because then at the games everyone knows what they are doing and it’s more inclusive, and it’s just fun to get everyone together,” said head cheerleader Jenna Job.
In the future, the leaders at NS will constantly be trying to change pep assemblies to keep them entertaining and have them be relevant to the events at the high school as the year progresses. The students aren’t forced to participate, but assemblies tend to be more exciting when they do.
“We can’t decide for them. It’s their choice, so we just try to make it the most fun and make it feel like they can all be included,” Jacobson said.
