By Patrice Sais
The Centennialight
What does it mean to be a bulldog? Being a bulldog means having pride and happiness. You can show that pride and happiness by having school spirit. Having school spirit is making an emotional connection with your school and being involved.
School spirit has to come from the heart; it’s like faith. You either have it or you don’t. There's no question that school is a tough time but it’s a quick four years and doing things like participating in school spirit can leave you with better memories. By having spirit week students have the opportunity to dress up and have fun.
According to research from Varsity Brands students that achieve higher GPAs are the students that participate in school spirit. From their statistics 91%, are more likely to be leaders 90%, are happier and 88%, are more active in their communities. Michael Sinclair, a Junior Class Representative at Centennial stated “It’s wonderful to have bulldog pride, it makes me feel like I’m really getting the High School experience.”
Without students that truly believe in supporting their school in all of its achievements, school spirit couldn't exist. School spirit can also impact the way our teams perform. Being out there and cheering on your classmates increases the morale of the players. No team wants to compete for a school that doesn’t support them. It’s all about bringing up our school's name and bragging. As a Centennial Bulldog our competition is the Central Wildcats and we want to show them that we are just “simply the best” by having the most school spirit.
Cheerleaders are a great example of school spirit, but you don't have to be a cheerleader to embrace how you feel about the school. School spirit can be shown many ways and is not just occasional for just the spirit week. It can be attending games, going to pep rallies, representing your school's colors, having positivity during school, or even supporting a classmate. A quick way to start showing your school spirit at Centennial is wearing your Bulldog red on Thursdays. Next time you hear our school song don’t think twice to get up and show some school spirit!
