“The Dawg Pound” has recently been ranked the best high school student section in Virginia by Prep Super League. Over the course of this early football season, students have been decked in various spirit themes, spanning from the “USA Out” at the first home football game to the “Happily Ever After” attire presented the week before homecoming.
Coming off of the early-season student section rating, the Bulldogs proved the deserving award was no mistake at the Homecoming game where the varsity football team defeated the Woodgrove Wolverines in a stylish fashion. Great participation supplemented the school spirit during the first pep rally of the year, where additional excitement was brought to a head on Friday, Sept. 26 at the very first pep rally of the year.
“An event that lifts spirit is the pep rallies,” senior Liam Fullerton said. They’re always on game days, it gets people excited and it kind of gives a preview to the cheers we’re going to do.”
On top of the first pep rally with fall sports running out and students playing spirit-building games, and the parade featuring clubs, sports teams, and other groups representing the school, the homecoming football game took place that night, with the student section cheering in high spirits.
“I’ve actually heard this from one of the coaches: it’s that whenever [the football team] look up at the stands and they see people being excited, that makes them excited, and that definitely motivates them to have passion for the game,” Fullerton said. “If the stands were just casual, not loud at all, and there weren’t a lot of people there, who are they playing for? They’re not playing for anybody. When they look up and see the stands full and everybody participating in the cheers, that definitely motivates them.”
So far this year, the school has done an incredible job maintaining school spirit and excitement by providing extracurricular activities that bring the school together, like this year’s Color Run.
“By getting different perspectives to work on spirit, it makes all different kinds of people want to do them,” sophomore and SCA member Ella Pendleton said, “They are special because they bring the school together.”
An important element to supporting school spirit is making sure all the students, even the underclassmen, feel comfortable and enthusiastic during events such as pep rallies, sporting events, and spirit days.
“It’s most important for an underclassman to do [the spirit days] so they truly feel like a bulldog,” Pendleton said. “You will feel included if you just go for it.”
