When I was a little kid growing up in Rhinebeck, I dreamed of going to High School and attending sports games, having pep rallies, and living the high school experience.

I was soon disappointed when I entered freshman year to find that the lack of school spirit was alarming. With only one small spirit week each year and little attendance at sports events, I ask myself: where did RBK’s school spirit go?

Today students in our school often describe high school as stressful, boring, difficult and even draining. Many students are upset and angry with the lack of support from the school for spirit events.

Junior Penny Paldino said, “School spirit is discouraged in our school. It is already March and we haven’t had one school spirit event.” It’s already March and we haven’t had one spirit event.”

Art teacher Mrs. Giles said, “We don’t have enough opportunities for kids to have involvement.” Her claim has been supported again and again with spirit events being cut back more every year.

With push back from the administration to try to get rid of the pep rally, students’ interest in spirit is going away. There is also less interest in joining clubs and sports.

A senior athlete said, “The school doesn’t really advocate for school spirit, they rarely announce games, and they focus more on academics. There is less interest in sports and clubs and more focus on grades because of the pressure from our school to do really well.”

With more focus on school, fewer kids are joining time-consuming sports and clubs. The National Federation of High School Associations (NFHSA) states, “In addition to showing support for their school, high school students with ‘school spirit’ perform better academically, are more engaged in social and civic matters, and are happier in general than their less-spirited peers.”

Instead of taking away spirit events, the school administraton and staff should be encouraging them and making an effort to make more events for the students.

One RBK 2013 graduate explained her experience at RBK by saying,”When I was in school, everyone knew everyone. We attended all the sporting events and musicals, and everyone had a lot of school spirit. We were proud to be from Rhinebeck.”

So Rhinebeck hasn’t always been a school with no spirit. We need to reclaim RBK former glory days and bring back school spirit.