Another year at American and that means another year of people complaining how we have no spirit. I get it. Not a lot of people come to the games, no one really knows the school song, and a lot of people do not seem to have pride in AU. I get that it does suck but I have a novel idea for everyone that complains that AU lacks spirit. Go make some.

Go to a game, at least the Phil Reeves days and Blue Outs. Do not just be a passive observer but actually start a cheer, join one, maybe sing along when the pep band plays the school song, bring a few friends with you so you enjoy the experience more and actually come back. If you do not know the school song it is on the back of your class shirt or just google it. Be a leader in the audience and others will start to follow.

School pride can be created easily if we all just stopped smack talking the school all the time. Let me get one major myth out of the way and say we do have some quality athletics. Our women’s volleyball team has won the Patriot League for the past 5 years straight and has won over 10 times total. Men’s basketball and women’s have both made it to March Madness within the last 4 years. We also had an Olympic athlete, so before you start talking smack about the teams take a second to educate yourself about what team you are actually talking about, because you seem to have gotten American confused with another school.

The trash talk goes past sports. I constantly hear people talk bad about HDP, Kerwin, the Health Center, the Counseling Center, the gen eds they have to take, what time their class is, the buildings, pretty much everything possible. Maybe it does not seem like a big deal at the time, but saying negative (and usually misinformed) things about the school does add up over time. It gives everyone who hears it another thing to dislike about the school.

What everyone needs to understand is school spirit does not just happen, it is created. Maybe at other schools you have gone to or heard of it seems to happen, but that is because someone already sent the ball rolling and everyone else is just following. So this year instead of complaining that American lacks school spirit go and be a part of creating some.