Smells like School Spirit

By Jesy Odio on April 20, 2012

Although I’m sure the final conclusion to this dilemma is that good ole cliché saying “the grass is greener on the other side”, both my high school and my current university, UC Santa Cruz, have never been big on “school spirit”, which of course, leads me to think that I am missing out on school pride and weekly rallies. Then again, one of the reasons why I decided to go to school in Santa Cruz was  because it has the reputation of being a school very open-minded and liberal.

I, personally, was never one to promote school spirit or to join a sorority since those societies never really reflected my ideals about individual expression. After all, the main reason why around three thousand students accept UC Santa Cruz’s admission each year is because of their emphasis on refusal to cooperate with any big franchises and corporations. The city of Santa Cruz is conveniently located 75 miles from San Francisco, but that doesn’t mean the city town hall has made any signs of showing interest in relying on a big city. Downtown Santa Cruz has made it clear that they show priority to local businesses instead of national franchises, which means saying goodbye to most fast-food places and big department stores, and while many universities around the country enjoy of having a Starbucks within a close mile radius, UCSC enjoys locally brewed-coffee. In addition, while Greek Row is a huge factor of most universities, the city has passed a law to prohibit fraternities and sororities in renting houses in near proximity to each other, or even as to claim that a location is being used for such purposes.

However, it does seem like it’s not that we decided to be anti-school spirit, but rather that we had nothing to cheer on because of our deficit of sports teams. This theory just leaves me stuck in a predicament of the chicken or the egg: what came first, our lack of spirit or our lack of having something to cheer on? Or has the school decided to omit all big sports in the university, so most of our school pride is focused on educational services. Go Engineering? Let’s cheer on the Pre-Med?

School spirit may sound exciting to many because it can be an opportunity to unite with other students to cheer on your university. It can be a great experience to feel like a part of a community towards a greater purpose, or it might not be your cup of tea at all.In the end, make sure to keep the presence or absence of school spirit in mind when you decide on which university to attend!

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