The last two years of school were hard on everyone. Students and teachers were learning how to work around new hybrid schedules and people were being quarantined left and right. It was overall a depressing time period of our lives.
Now that SHS students are going to school every day and there is less contact tracing, the boost in morale has skyrocketed from last school year.
We, The Journal, believe that this morale has been boosted tremendously this year and we hope to see it only go up from here.
One of the things that boosted morale was a return to normalcy. The last two years of school had no structure. Schedules were always changing and no one knew if students and faculty would ever go back to seeing each other every day again. They also didn’t know if SHS would be closed down again, like it had been in March 2020.
The Booster club also helped in regaining this year’s morale. By planning spirit days and getting students involved in school activities, they have given student’s a sense of pride. By creating friendly competitions between students and encouraging teachers to tell their students to participate, morale has gotten higher and higher.
Before and during the COVID-19 school years, it was rare to see so many people participate in spirit week or show up to football games. This increase in morale is not only welcomed, but The Journal hopes it continues.
However, there is the underlying threat that our COVID-19 numbers will rise and the school will go back to last year’s schedule. Going back to a hybrid schedule might be best for student health, but it would not be good for the levels of morale.
That being said, if SHS students were to go back to a hybrid schedule, there should be several morale boosting plans set into place. The newfound morale could be the light at the end of the tunnel if we were to be sent back to hybrid or all virtual classes.
In order to boost morale in the case of students going on a hybrid or all virtual schedule, the school could host virtual events or continue to use the GooseChase app. This app allows the school to participate in challenges with others and earn points. By doing tasks, such as building a human pyramid, students can upload and share their photos with others.
Using the GooseChase app or similar kinds of social media, SHS can encourage students to compete in friendly competitions and boost morale. By utilizing the use of social media, the school can not only reach other schools to join in the morale booster, but they can reach their students and gain feedback on what the student body needs to make them happier.
The school could also do more challenges overall. SHS could host contests online or during Google Meet classes. Teachers could get class votes on categories such as “best tourist outfit” or “craziest hair.”
Overall SHS needs to keep morale up. While we are proud of our resilience, morale has kept many students pushing forward to a “normal” school year. The morale provided by the Booster Club and a missed sense of normalcy has made this school year so much better and happier.