BY MADDY KROMER
Dressing up in fun themes with your friends and cheering on the Warriors is something all Mariemont High School students look forward to doing. Well, almost all of them.
According to Senior Sydney Nicholson, this year, a predicament has arisen in the student section, specifically with one grade: the freshmen. Almost every year freshmen are hesitant to cheer because they are new to high school and don’t know what to expect in the stands of Kusel Stadium. They are usually the quietest grade, but still cheer to avoid the seniors’ reaction if they don’t.
But, it’s different this year. Senior Kennedy Moi reveals that even after being called out by herself and the other seniors, the freshmen continue not to cheer. Some seniors are upset about this situation and don’t understand why they don’t; some are even infuriated.
“It makes me really mad when the freshmen don’t cooperate. They need a lot more enthusiasm. They’re new, which means they’re probably nervous, but that’s no excuse for not having school spirit,” says senior Kennedy Moi.
Moi always participates in the themes and goes all out for them. Painting her face and wearing lots of glitter is what she does for most of the games. Moi can be found standing in the front row, proudly cheering on the football team. She suggests that this issue could be fixed by scattering seniors in each row of the student section so that they can help encourage the underclassmen to chime in with the cheers.
The lack of freshmen involvement this year also affects the cheerleaders’ performance. Senior cheerleader Ana Hinebaugh said, “It’s really sad that the freshmen don’t cheer. Almost every year the freshmen are the quietest grade in the student section but it’s never been as bad as it is this year. They kinda ruin the game for everyone.”
Hinebaugh says that when she and her fellow cheerleaders perform the “Do It” and “Get Down” cheers, they find it frustrating. When it is the freshmen’s turn to repeat the cheer, only a few of them say it which messes up the cheer and throws off the cheerleaders.
Freshman Adam Takas gives insight to the reasoning behind the freshmen silence.
“If I do cheer, I’ll be the only one doing it and other freshmen will judge me,” said Takas. “A lot of us also don’t know the cheers, so you can’t really join in unless you know it. I think if the freshmen were taught the cheers and had time to learn them, the games would be a lot more fun,” he says.
With only a few football games left in the season, senior Sydney Nicholson says, “The freshmen need to learn the cheers one way or another, and I think getting them involved in the chants would make the student section louder and stronger.”
All Mariemont students, according to Ana Hinebaugh, need to “Show their school spirit and BE BETTER.”