“I believe that we have won!” There is just something about cheering this. Really, there is just something about cheering on the winning team at all. However, nothing is better than having the winning team be one’s school. Regardless of whether one is cheering on his or her football team or the Science Olympiad, school spirit acts as a unifier for all students.

School spirit was always something that intrigued me. I love participating in spirit week. (nerd versus jock day will forever be my favorite.) I love yelling “Go Revere!” at games. I enjoy screaming for my friends when they score a goal or make a touchdown or whatever it is called when you score a point in volleyball. It was not until recently, however, that I really began to notice the importance of school spirit. The School Themes website defines school spirit as the feeling when you get when you walk into the stadium of the homecoming game or the feeling of wearing your school’s logo on a t-shirt at a pep rally. It is the excitement of a 36-33 football game with 2 minutes left or the feeling after one of your fellow classmates receives a perfect SAT score. School spirit involves both atheletics, extracurriculars and academics.

When taken at face value, school spirit can help to encourage players or individuals to work harder, knowing someone is cheering him or her on. However, it holds far more value. School Themes’s website explained how unified spirited students feel. One could never speak to another student, yet once one stands next to him or her at a soccer game and the two cheer with each other, the two immediately become friends. Sports events can ultimately help you to unify as a school and cheer for one common goal. (This was supposed to be punny.) Huffington Post writer Gillian Horn noted that school spirit allows people from all different social cliques to intermix through the common goal of cheering on their school.

But school spirit also does not have to only relate to sports. Cheering on the Science Olympiad team, buying a yearbook, going to RHS Band and Choir concerts and also checking on the Lantern (shameless self-promotion) qualifies as school spirit. School spirit is about loving where one goes to school and supporting all the people one sees on a daily basis. It is such a cool feeling sitting next to someone in English and then watching him or her play the violin in a state competition. Supporting other RHS students seems like something so small, yet it somehow has a large impact on other students. School spirit is about lending support to one’s fellow classmates rather than only hoping for a win. Regardless of the outcome of any tennis match or Ohio Math League competition, saying that I rooted for my friends and peers the entire time deems much more importance.

So next time you hear about the big soccer game on the announcements or about a Robotics competition, go ahead and cheer on your fellow Minutemen. Even reading this column right now involves a little bit of school spirit, so thanks.