Spirited against school spirit?

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.”American revolutionary Thomas Paine wrote this referring to soldiers who only fight when it’s easy – warm, with good hunting and lots of growth.Here at Samo, we have our own version of “sunshine patriots” in those students who cheer at football games, but rock the “anti-spirit” look at school. If all of their friends are cheering with spirit, then there’s an excuse to be loud and rambunctious while still maintaining their status of “cool.” When given a chance to post an exciting “pic” or a cool status to the social media, kids will literally jump at the opportunity.But when there is a school Spirit Week, when students are told to wear specific colors or funky outfits that are deemed “un-cool,” they cower behind their social statuses. Suddenly they conveniently forget that date or time or not own any shirts of a specific color, even though they wore one that very week. Samo students need more school spirit. All the time.In many cases on a pep rally day, when I ask students if they are “pepped for the rally” they look sick to their stomachs. Some answer with a loud “No!” and go on to elaborate on how they dislike school, to the point that they were going to be purposefully “anti-spirit” by wearing a color other than what they had been assigned.I applaud them on their originality and rebellious ways Not wearing the correct color? What a travesty! I doubt there has ever been a rally where at least 75 percent of students were wearing the correct colors.The only people who seem to have any spirit are seniors, and maybe juniors if they feel threatened. But where were they freshman year when their section in the Greek was a quiet muddle of mismatching colors?The student section at high profile sports games has school spirit. So does most of the audience. But where is this legendary Samo pride anytime else? Where is the gear at school? School spirit fanatics should at least know what time a game starts. Don’t get me wrong, I love the student section at games, but a lot of the time, their pep seems faked.I would like to thank small group of students at Samo who actually have school spirit. The ones who actually bleed blue and gold are the people who wear their Samo t-shirts and colors often, who cheer like maniacs at games – the people who honestly love Samo. I applaud you blue-and-gold bleeders – your peers should be more like you.Now, I challenge you, Samo, to participate in Spirit Weeks. I challenge you to represent your class and house at rallies. If you can’t do those, then at least have the dignity during homeroom to put your phones away, ditch the last minute homework and listen to the announcements with enthusiasm as people take time out of their busy lives to plan and advertise events, spirit days and rallies for you, the students.I challenge you to care about them enough to show your Samo pride all the time. I challenge you to really have school spirit.jlevin@thesamohi.com