The faculty of SHS has been receiving a large amount of complaints from grades 10-12 about the noise freshmen make at football games. Non-freshmen students say that the freshmen overpower the rest of the student section during cheers and that it makes them look like failures.
“I’ve heard the upperclassmen say they feel intimidated by how loud the freshman class is,” teacher Donna Sekhon said. “They think that the freshmen need to participate in cheers less.”
Sekhon went on to say that the freshman have not only overpowered the student section but the rest of the stands too. She says even parents in the stands have made calls to the school complaining about the noise. Sekhon says the issue has been addressed once by staff after the second home game.
Allegedly after the second home football game, the head coach from the other team reported that he felt bullied by the freshmen cheering. He was not willing to be interviewed, but his assistant coach, Jeff Jones, says it was a traumatic event for his coaching partner.
“He was crying on the side of the field,” Jones said. “I couldn’t comfort him. All he kept saying was, ‘Why are they so loud Jeff, why?’ I hope that never happens again.”
Most freshmen feel that their cheering should not be this large of a problem, though. Freshman Heather Gates says the school should instead be happy that they cheer their school on with pride.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Gates said. “They should want us to be loud and proud at the games.”
Gates said she feels a lot of pride in being a cardinal so she will cheer her team on no matter what. Gates also says that the freshmen tell the other classes to be louder when cheering at games, but they never are. If the other classes were just as loud as them she feels that it would not be a problem at all.
On the other hand, junior Racheal Trammell says she tries to cheer louder, but the freshman are just too overpowering. Once the other classes get loud, the freshmen seem to get even louder, according to Trammell. She says the freshmen just need to listen to the faculty and quiet down.
“The freshmen need to shut up and sit down,” Trammell said. “They don’t need to be this loud at the games. It is ridiculous.”
Trammell is one of the many among the student body who feels this issue needs to be addressed. As of right now, she thinks the staff can do more to combat this problem.
Sophomore Citlaly Marquez agrees with this statement. She feels the staff can do more to make the freshmen see how they are expected to behave. Marquez believes that the freshmen need act like her class did their freshmen year. She says they should sit at the top of the bleachers and make virtually no sound. This would solve a lot of problems, according to Marquez.
“It’s not supposed to be like this,” Marquez said. “They aren’t supposed to cheer the team on, and they definitely aren’t supposed to be this loud about it.”
Sekhon says the administration and staff will continue to work on this issue until it is resolved. She says the main problem with the freshman cheering too much is how it affects school spirit. She believes if it continues any longer SHS school spirit will reduce dramatically. She hopes the staff will soon get the freshmen to realize how detrimental their cheering can be.