During this year’s football games, one thing seemed to be missing. The team played their heart out every game, parents came out in full force to cheer for their favorite players, and cheerleaders danced the night away– but something was lacking.

From weak chants that hardly anyone participated in, to freshman not sitting in their section, the rowdiness of the student section was somewhat absent compared to former years.

It is apparent that we have had a fall from grace contrasting what student spirit used to be– but that might be because of the fact that students themselves don’t really care about the game. They only go to hang out with friends.

For example, Matthew Harwood (freshman) said it best himself. When asked why he attended the football games, he replied simply, “I don’t really go for the game itself. I wouldn’t go at all if my friends weren’t there. It’s the perfect place for friends to chill and hang out, so I do so.”

While some students only go to the games for social interaction, other people don’t have as much spirit simply because they don’t believe the crowds’ participation and cheering truly affects the game.

Multiple students repeatedly brought up the idea that it is the team playing, and that they more than likely don’t even pay attention to the crowd since they are focused on the game.

To see if this theory was true, Varsity football player Bo Holifield (senior) spoke on his perspective on how much the crowd affects him personally during a game.

“I rarely even look up at the crowd during games. When I’m out there, it’s me, my teammates and the game; I could care less if the student section was there or not,” says Holifield

There was, however, an opposition to this lack of interaction. An apparent comment that repeatedly appeared was how many people didn’t think the student section changed in any way, and still see tons of spirit in the students that participate.

When interviewing Horizon alumni Robert Holifield, class of ‘92 and father of Bo Holifield, he seemed to find our student section as full of spirit as before– and even said it was impressive how much participation we get from students.

When asked how Robert felt about the spirit of students at school games, he answered with, “It’s incredible. Participation of the crowd is a huge way to build hype for any team; and, from what I’ve seen, Horizon does it the best.”

School spirit is incredibly important to some people, while it doesn’t seem to matter to others. So the real question now is: Is school spirit truly beneficial? Or is it just an excuse to scream and socialize with friends?