We were down 25-13 and I was reeling off the list of possible outcomes, there were three minutes left in the game, and my student would have nothing of it.
Basically she told me to shut the hell up.
We can still win, she said.
Put a lump in my throat it did.
School spirit.
It still exists.
Boy, she was cheering on the team with a mighty zeal, while still taking pictures!
I mean I've been to a lot of games and the students cheer, but I guess I always supposed it was a sort of empty cheering, you know, for show only.
Last night I realized it was genuine.
They really believed in their team.
I almost got all teary and sentimental.
Almost.
School spirit still exists.
At least for the hundred or so kids that show up for the games.
That's not a lot for a school of 1700 or so, but we don't play 'at home' but at another school's field.
My student reminded me that some of them have school pride, they are proud of the other's that strap it on and play, and when they sing the alma mater they take it seriously.
I gotta admit, I sort of forgot how all that stuff felt, you know, being in high school and all that.
Or maybe I did remember and I just wasn't seeing the same kind of well, loyalty in these nowadays kids.
Or perhaps it's always been there and I've just been blind.
The latter I think.
I've always been a bit standoffish about school spirit and pride and all that but deep down inside I still feel an affiliation with my school, the school I never graduated from.
Okay, I admit it, it's pride and loyalty.
Next week is homecoming and I'll be watching the students with different eyeballs.
Like me I suppose, they don't always show it, but the pride and loyalty is there, and it's the real deal.
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