Laura Kattilakoski
Staff Writer

Our school may never be some grand utopia where everyone walks around with huge smiles and everyone gets along with everyone else, but lately it seems like students are getting more and more disrespectful to our school.

I will be the first to admit, it is difficult to keep school spirit alive when half of today’s teenagers think it is lame to appreciate your school. Our entire generation is often stereotyped with being lazy, selfish and technology oriented. While I do not necessarily find this to be true, it may very well be the cause of our lack of spirit at school.

Of course, many people cannot seem to muster up much spirit when school is simply a mandatory requirement in their life. The atmosphere is much different at optional events. People are more willing to support their organizations— clubs and honor societies are not things Coppell High School is lacking.

I think the problem is also because, half the time, most of the student body is not even aware of spirit days. A while ago, a friend of mine had to pick out people who had dressed up for Red Ribbon Week. There was not a large array of people from which to choose. In the process, a few students who had failed to dress up were picked out and asked why they did not participate. The most common responses were along the lines of “I didn’t have anything to wear,” or “I didn’t know that was today.”

CHS is not exactly the least-spirited school around, but there is plenty of room for improvement. To be honest, I have basically lost all motivation to maintain high spirits at school, and I assume that is the case with many other students too. Who really wants to celebrate your school when you would much rather sleep?

I think students need to get over the fear of looking like a nerd in front of others, or whatever it is that holds them back and show some appreciation for our school. Even if you do not want to trade your everyday clothes for some over-the-top costume, the least students can do is respect the school and everyone in it.

There is that group of students who dress up for every single theme day and go all out for spirit days and pep rallies. Some of these people do it because of their extracurricular commitments. But there is also the group of students who just make dressing up for theme days seem… lame.

At pep rallies, there seems to be a direct correlation between grade and enthusiasm. As a sophomore, my friends and I have traced part of the problem back to the freshmen. I guess in the first year of high school, it is just not cool to scream and shout at pep rallies or to wear school colors.

Anyway, the point here is that you do not have to be a cheerleader or wear crazy costumes on a regular basis to have school spirit. All it takes is a little bit of enthusiasm, respect and willingness to stand up for our school.