Not Enough Pep In Our Step

GO T-BIRDS... I guess

Anna Grose, Section Editor


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Shorewood athletes are an incredibly diverse and accomplished group of students. Three times a year the entire school squeezes into the compact gym and attempts to highlight the strengths of our many student-athletes through our tri-yearly pep assemblies. Over the last couple of years, this has been through the production and presentation of team-run activities, displayed in front of the sadly, disinterested crowd.

Recently, there were a few murmured criticisms in the hallway in the days and weeks following our spring sports assembly. It seems that some think that these assemblies lack the pep that the stereotypical high school movie to portrays as the national norm (A certain scene comes to mind from the movie High School Musical in which the cast all harmonize over the words “we’re all in this together!”). This is the kind of harmony that some seek at Shorewood assemblies, but can’t seem to find despite their efforts.

The one exception to this cheerlessly low plateau of Shorewood spirit seems to be during the homecoming season. At the annual homecoming assembly, Shorewood goes bananas with enthusiasm for their class and for the school as a whole. Part of this trend may be the fact that this assembly occurs toward the beginning of the school year, and in a way is able to ride the post-summer high all the way through October.

The fact of the matter is that this is arguably the assembly that receives the most publicity and largest amount of student time put into working on and producing the assembly. Students, teachers, teams, and coaches put in countless hours to show Shorewood an exciting pre-homecoming spirit week. The students that are involved in leadership, performance teams, the skit process, etc… all work incredibly hard and are recognized for their efforts through the applause of their classmates and teachers.

The tri-annual sports assemblies in a way, are like the homecoming assemblies but on a much smaller scale and involve a more athletic-centric vibe. But still, student and faculty time are still spent working on trying to make these assemblies fun for students.
And sure, there are sometimes problems with the way that the assemblies are approached, but it is more deeply rooted in a problem that lies within each student: apathy and indifference towards the school, their peers, and teachers. Most students enter these school-wide events with a lackluster spirit, starting the time off with an inadequate amount of commitment to the following ceremonies. This is the larger issue is bubbling beneath the surface of the student body’s distaste for these pep assemblies.
In order to combat this epidemic student dissatisfaction, the population of Shorewood needs to come to accept the sports assemblies for what they are and appreciate the ways that our teams represent our school as a whole.