School spirit at BV is not what it used to be, — fading cheers, empty stands, and a growing sense of indifference have replaced a community once bursting with life. Read on to understand how and why spirit is declining, and what it means for the future at BV.

Legacies Lost

Football and band are probably what comes to mind when someone mentions “high school.” Two leaders of the most involved activities at Blue Valley discuss the participation.

Section leader and to-be drum major junior Daniel Cheon wants to continue the band’s legacy.

“I feel like we lost some traditions,” Cheon said. “It’s because people forget about those traditions — people who were really pushing [them] are graduating. It doesn’t feel as important to the upcoming upperclassmen.”

Cheon said enthusiasm has decreased year by year.

“Stressing about the importance of keeping those traditions is [what’s] really important,” Cheon said. “Making the lowerclassmen feel excitement will allow them to see the importance.”

One of the many customs within the trumpet section is going to Raising Canes after events, such as marching competitions, concerts, sectionals, or even hanging out after practice.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints about how we don’t go as much,” he said. “I think that’s because we don’t stress enough the importance of going more frequently.”

With the year ending soon and incoming freshmen shortly arriving, Cheon hopes to keep the enthusiasm for the band.

“Our current upperclassmen have this fire spirit,” Cheon said. “I hope we can carry this momentum and keep it going.”

Meanwhile in football, the 2024 season captain senior Justin Roberston noticed how participation in attending football games decreased compared to the previous seasons’ games.

Robertson said the responsibility of maintaining the football legacy is passed down to each class.

“It was accountability — showing up every day and letting [freshmen] know they have a standard to meet,” Robertson said. “We did a good job of enforcing it, so I feel like they’re going to pass the standard.”

Let’s Get Fired Up

Blue Valley has always been known for its fun, inclusive spirit and traditions. However, recently, there has been a decline in attendance and students lacking spirit.

To help with this issue, Tiger Pride has brainstormed ways to bring back tradition. Juniors Marissa Doughty and Taft Stueve are part of this mission to restore student involvement.

“We do promos and candy grams so people can get super hyped about the dance,” Doughty said. “We also have been giving out gift cards at assemblies for people that have shown out for spirit week.”

They post on social media platforms so information and school events are more likely to be seen and reach a larger audience.

“We announce when games are so people know,” Stueve said. “We try to have fun events because people are more interested in going if [there are] fun themes.”

The Tiger Pride team tries to be inclusive and go to a variety of events like theater, assemblies, sports, show choir and different clubs. They also try to get involved in the beyond the walls of BV.

“We do lots of different community service projects like going to nursing homes,” Doughty said.

In addition, they are letting sophomores take Tiger Pride, along with splitting it into a two-semester class.

“You can sign up for one semester, or the other or do both,” Doughty said. “We are hoping to have more people, so you should definitely do it if you have time.”

Though it is a student-led team, teacher Kylie Garcia guides them during event planning.

“She’s so awesome because she’s really understanding,” Doughty said. “She has a lot of ideas that are beneficial and has taken Tiger Pride to the next level.”

Freshmen: Step It Up

Lockers slamming, lunch money stolen and dance breaks are how high school is often depicted in movies. So how are newcomers supposed to know what to expect?

Some tend to focus on what will happen with their friends.

“I was expecting it to be pretty easy and friend groups in middle school to stay the same,” freshman Anirvin Krishna said.

Others worry about picking up the slack of their classmates during spirit week and sports events.

“The freshmen don’t really get points because we don’t participate,” freshman Abbey Blasi said. “It’s a competition between sophomores, juniors and seniors.”

Blasi believes her class simply needs encouragement to get more involved. Freshman Grant Aschentrop rates the entire school’s spirit a 4 out of 10.

“People are laid back, and they don’t really care,” he said. “It’s a lot better when people are involved because then you have people to do things with.”

Krishna assesses Blue Valley’s enthusiasm as a 7 out of 10 because the upperclassmen carry.

“High school in reality is more academics-focused,” he said. “Sometimes the freshmen are slacking. They just don’t want to try.”

Blasi feels similarly to Krishna.

“I thought there was going to be more of a mix between seniors and freshmen, but really, we’ve been pretty separated,” she said. “I didn’t expect to get as involved [by just] doing cross country with all these new people I probably wouldn’t have met.”

Blasi hopes her grade will attend more sports events in the future to improve school spirit and that StuCo will be more vocal about them.

“Sharing it more, trying to get people involved and more prizes — if you win this whole big thing, you’re going [to] Main Event,” she said.

Aschentrop thinks freshman attendance will be more common among friend groups.

“Once [they] get involved and do something in the school, they have a group of people they can do things with,” he said. “I definitely think that we could improve it.”

Crashing Culture

Throughout the years, our school atmosphere and culture have changed. Some believe it is a result of the pandemic; others believe students simply no longer care. Regardless of which side you fall, it is clear to most that the school spirit of Blue Valley isn’t as prominent as it used to be.

Social studies teacher Mitch Sundquist offers a unique perspective on this matter since he has been a part of the Blue Valley community “for a very long time,” originally attending BV as a student in the class of 2013.

Part of the reason Sundquist “made a conscious choice” to come back to Blue Valley was because he enjoyed attending as a student. He enjoyed “the culture the school had and inclusiveness that’s always been part of the culture.”

For better or for worse, Sundquist thinks the school culture is “different” than it used to be.

“I don’t know if it’s necessarily lost spirit — I think maybe some of what we’re seeing has to do with students not being involved as much,” he said. “The more students are involved in their school, the more they care about what goes on there. Maybe the lack of participation leads to a lack of caring about what else goes on here.”

Many have noticed event attendance is down in students, and Sundquist would like to see students being a part of more activities.

“We have a ton of opportunities and different ways for students to get involved,” he said. “I wish students were more proactive on their own about seeking those things out and being part of those opportunities.”

To try and boost student engagement in school Sundquist believes “it would be great if every student were required to be part of just one club or activity just to give them something other than academics to care about.”

Sundquist thinks increased school spirit can start with the teachers because they can create opportunities for students.

“School is going to be what the students want it to be,” he said. “If the students are not active in building and maintaining that culture, there’s not really going to be any real culture.”

Igniting the Future

After beloved teacher Mark Mosier retired, a new teacher stepped up to be the Student Council sponsor. Luckily, business teacher Laurie Warwick and ELA teacher Carrie McClain stepped up to the mat.

“I was the senior class sponsor for the last two years,” Warwick said. “This is my first year as the overall sponsor.”

Being the sponsor of StuCo comes with a lot of responsibility, especially in terms of school spirit. Over the last couple of years, school spirit is believed to be at an all-time low.

“I was here the first year post-Covid,” Warwick said. “[Spirit] was really low and nobody was going to anything, so when we hit 900 kids at last year’s Homecoming, it was shocking.”

While some might say having spirit is considered “embarrassing” to participate, Warwick believes it’s due to a lack of communication between teachers and students.

“We don’t necessarily do a great job of communicating the specifics to the freshmen and sophomores,” she said. “I talk to a lot of the freshmen and sophomores that I have in class, and we think they just know these things when they don’t actually.”

To combat this issue, Warwick tries her best to get StuCo members involved in order to get more underclassmen to participate.

“Trying to get people to go to more games and more events than just the standard varsity football and varsity basketball is one way we’re trying to do a better job of publicizing things,” Warwick said.

Apart from sporting events, Warwick has also tried to add more activities to the school dances as a way to make them more of an experience.

“We have been trying to focus on adding some elements to it,” she said. “For example, with Sweetheart, we rented a mobile miniature golf course [and] put out all the yard games.”

These new additions have definitely made a change throughout the school, Warwick said.

“I do think school spirit is making a comeback,” she said. “More people have been involved. We have made an effort in Student Council to give out more rewards each quarter.”

With these changes, Warwick thinks there will be an increase in school spirit throughout the next couple of years.

“I hope the juniors step up and become the same leaders the seniors have been,” Warwick said. “We have more of a plan now for how we want the year to look, so it can only get better and better.”

Student Opinions

Naomi Heusinkveld, 9

How do you show or promote school spirit?

“I did show up at football games at first, and I try to participate in spirit week. I wear my school shirts.”

Which class will have the most spirit points this year?

“Seniors.”

What are your favorite clubs?

“KAY Club and Wigs Out.”

What are your thoughts on school spirit?

“[There’s] a lot more toward the beginning [of the school year] because of the football games and Homecoming.”

Akhil Reddy, 12

How do you show or promote school spirit?

“I participate in the black and gold days [and] a lot of clubs, encouraging underclassmen to join them.”

Which class will have the most spirit points this year?

“Seniors.”

What are your favorite clubs?

“Mu Alpha Theta and Scholars’ Bowl.”

What are your thoughts on school spirit?

“There is a slight decline in school spirit. When I was a freshman, the upperclassmen were more enthusiastic, and we were more connected than we are now. I miss the outdoor assemblies.”

Aiella Burgert, 12

How do you show or promote school spirit?

“Going to all the sports games, especially on senior nights. I also play on the volleyball team.”

Which class will have the most spirit points this year?

“Seniors.”

What are your favorite clubs?

“KAY Club and Spanish Club.”

What are your thoughts on school spirit?

“The school is less of a community. People who are supposed to be leading school spirit, like Student Council and Tiger Pride, aren’t doing as good of a job motivating people.”

Bryce Vincik, 11

How do you show or promote school spirit?

“By participating in spirit week and dressing up.”

Which class will have the most spirit points this year?

“Juniors.”

What are your favorite clubs?

“FCA.”

What are your thoughts on school spirit?

“There should be more of a warning — like about a week. If I had time to buy stuff on Amazon, it’d be a little bit cooler.”

Clubs & Activities

Performance Groups

• Acapella Club
• Chamber Orchestra
• Chamber Singers
• Choraliers
• Classic Blend Show Choir
• Concert Band
• Concert Choir
• Drama Club
• Fifth Wall
• Jazz Ensemble
• Marching Band & Color Guard
• Musical
• Rep Theatre
• Show Choir
• Symphonic Band
• Symphonic Orchestra
• Wind Ensemble
• Winter Guard
• Winter Play

Interest Clubs

• Anime Club
• Art Club
• Book Club
• Chess Club
• Classic Literature Club
• Computer Science Club
• Cornhole Club
• Creative Writing Club
• Cubing Club
• Horticulture Management Club
• Investment Club
• Linguistics Club
• Pop Culture Club
• Table Top Club
• Tungsten Tigers (FTC Robotics)
• Unified Bowling

Honor Societies

• International Honorary Society for High School Journalists
• International Thespian Society
• Latin Club/National Latin Honor Society
• Mu Alpha Theta
• National Art Honor Society
• National English Honor Society
• National History Honor Society
• National Honor Society
• National Technical Honor Society
• Quill & Scroll
• Science National Honor Society
• Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica
• Tri-M Music Honor Society

Leadership

• AVID
• Connections
• Prom Committee
• Student Council
• Tiger Mentors
• Tiger Pride

Cultural Clubs

• Arab Cultural Association
• Asian American Association
• Black Student Union
• Diversity Club
• Future is Female
• Gay Straight Alliance
• International Relations Club
• Jewish Student Union
• Latin American Student Association
• Muslim Student Association
• South Asian Student Alliance
• Spanish Club

Academic Clubs

• Biology Olympiad
• BV Business
• Debate & Forensics
• Future Healthcare Professionals
• Model United Nations
• Scholars’ Bowl
• Science Knowledge Bowl Team
• Youth Court

Community Clubs

• Animal Welfare
• Community Changers
• Environmental Service Club
• FCCLA
• Headrush
• KAY Club
• Newspaper
• Red Cross Club
• SAFE (Seatbelts Are For Everyone)
• Science Outreach
• Social Justice Club
• Sources of Strength
• Students Against Destructive Decisions
• Students Assist Schools
• Tigers Inc. School Store
• Tiger TV
• TSPN
• UNICEF
• Wigs Out
• Yearbook