School spirit can be seen as the pride expressed in one’s school.

Kimberly Nelson, a family and consumer science teacher, said, “our school spirit, being a celebration of who we are, is a big deal” and is important to the school community.

At school events and assemblies, students show their school spirit through flaring outfits – ranging from poofy tutus to silky capes – yelling until it’s hard to speak during assemblies and staying late during sport games to support the Terrace athletes and fellow students. Even helping around the community and uniting the school in any way possible can show one’s school spirit.

In order to embrace and participate this pride for MTHS, here are some tips to help show school spirit…

Dressing Up

Being able to dress up allows students to express themselves in fun, creative ways by wearing capes, props, school colors or even showing up in costume. Spirit days gives individuals the chance to show their creative side through dressing up.

As long as the outfits chosen are school appropriate and do not offend someone through culture, race, identity, or in other ways, they can be as outrageous and as crazy as students want them to be.

Brianna Houtman, ASB’s Big Six Vice President, said that seeing people’s “different interpretations [of the spirit days is] always the best,” and she enjoys seeing the type of person a student is.

When dressing up for spirit days, it doesn’t matter if students go all out or stay simple, as long as they are being themselves and putting in the time/effort to participate, that’s what’s important.

If it’s class colors day, just putting on that simple red, black, white or grey shirt shows school pride for the grade the individual is representing. Something as simple as this still shows participation and representing the school as a Terrace student.

Spending money on expensive materials isn’t something that’s required or necessary. There are always less expensive methods to use when dressing up, such as creating outfits out of items available at home or going to thrift stores.

Fake an Injury Day, one of the spirit days during homecoming week, had people dressed up in Band-Aid’s found at home and pre-owned casts, requiring little to no money.

When dressing-up, remember that there’s no limit or bar to reach in how much to participate, because it’s all up to the students to decide in how they want to represent Terrace in a positive light.

School spirit expressed in other ways

Not being into the hyped-up energy or the dressing up aspect doesn’t mean it’s impossible to show school spirit. People show school spirit through other ways such as joining clubs, sports, after-school activities, and etc. Even going to sporting events/assemblies and just being there, whether cheering or staying quit, shows support for our fellow Terrace students. Within MTHS, there is a wide variety of activities that students can choose to fit their interests!

From the helping hand of our community known as Key Club to Black Student Union (BSU), DECA, Robotics, Anime, and more. If a student is more of the athletic type, trying out for sports that interest them and representing our school as a Terrace athlete is the way to go. Or if they want to express their musical talents, getting involved in our music program is a great option for them.

There is something for everyone

Some of the activities offered at Terrace encourage friendly competition. Whether it’s classes put against each other during the assembly games, or clubs/sport teams going against different schools, it’s can be fun and exciting to compete and bring people together.

Getting involved shows an individual’s care about contributing to part of what makes Terrace special; making the school a better place. Anyone can get involved and it’s a great way to meet other people with similar values or interests as well as build relationships among one another. Students start to feel part of something, in other words, this community here at Terrace.

Having the right attitude

In order to understand the school spirit concept, it’s important to know another large aspect of it, in other words, the attitude or demeanor towards the MTHS community. It’s key to create or encourage a positive and open-minded environment.

During spirit days, if another student has on their spirit wear, don’t undermine them with negative comments such as “your outfit looks stupid” or “why did you think that outfit would work?” Through this, a chain reaction of negativity may begin, affecting one person, then  another and so on until it results in a lack of participation in school spirit due to the possibility of students thinking it’s dumb, or being self conscious about themselves.

Instead, start with a positive viewpoint or comment such as complimenting the person’s outfit or just bringing up their spirits and encouraging them. That way, the chain reaction can turn into a positive one and raise school participation.

Being a role model

Another thing to consider when having the right attitude for school spirit is being a role model and encouraging people that might not want to participate in school spirit. Getting people to join school spirit doesn’t involve forcing them, but simply the actions that other people do to promote it may give them the confidence to do so. That just by expressing their school spirit, they’re being themselves and hope that others see that it’s fun and great to do.

Jeremy Ansdell, a member of the Rowdy Rooters Club that dedicates time to encouraging “hype” during sport games, said that students can “reach out to others, and keep growing the group/community [here at MTHS]”.

The way a student’s attitude is directed towards the MTHS community makes a big impact on how school spirit is represented. The idea behind it is a positive attitude and showing school pride. Whether helping students out with their academics, showing sportsmanship to teammates or doing little things to help teachers and staff. Such things showing the type of attitude that should be expressed in school, developing MTHS into a better community where everyone comes and supports each other.

Freshmen Advice

For all the freshmen that are new to Terrace spirit, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed and confused about how school spirit is shown here.

In order to feel more comfortable, Ansdell believes students should just “put themselves out there and not be afraid” and that it’s all about sharing a common experience together. As well as reaching out to others in order to build relationships and just have fun at Terrace.

No matter how new a student is to Terrace, it’s okay for them to stay positive and be as crazy as they want to be in showing school spirit.

All these tips given are just the basis of school spirit. There are numerous of ways to express school spirit and all goes back to how one student decides to show it. Ranging from being the really loud one and bringing out the “hype” in people, or the quiet type that helps around in our MTHS community, there is no right or wrong way to show school spirit – it’s all up to the student. Go show school spirit and represent Terrace with pride!