It’s 2:20 on a Friday,
and you’re forced out of your sixth period, packed into the main hallway to line up and cheer on students as they walk out of the doors. It’s a celebration of sorts, recognition for students who are competing at the state or national level.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it maybe because you skip out the back door. And that’s part of the problem. Capital High School has a great tradition that has been dubbed as the
“Walk to State.” These usually occur throughout the year for sports. Band will show up, kids will cheer, pictures are taken. It is a great time. Any sport that qualifies to compete at a higher level receives one of these. What I’m about to say next will hurt many and I ask that you stay open to the idea and the problem I’m presenting. You may have the solution, you may realize that you can help. See, not every group get represented.

Currently,Capital has 22 sports and 39 clubs. Out of all of those sports, all 22 can qualify for a state competition, out of the 39 clubs, only 12 can
compete at a state or national level. How many times can one recall cheering on a club for their achievements? Or even hearing about
them?

I talked to Sander Bakkely, who competes in Skills USA and qualified for state for game design with his partner Roman Gunn,“I personally don’t watch them, however, it is unfair for some of the others, such as Robotics, Theatre, or Debate.”There is also people
involved in orchestra and choir who compete. Our male ensemble who placed first at Solo Ensemble, or Sidney Grimm who also took first in the overall soprano division. Lucy Lee, who is advancing to state for Viola. They didn’t get a cheer. What about Speech
and Debate, who last year qualified for nationals? Or Capital’s thespian troupe who, for the past five years, has received the honor of gold troupe? Did you hear about their accomplishments, or knew these competitions took place? These are just a few examples of some talent that Capital holds. It seems to be favoritism that drives what you hear over the intercoms during morning announcements.

If it’s a “Walk to State”, then why is it only applied to athletic sports? Maybe it’s not even a walk that students want, but just a little bit of recognition given to the same magnitude, or near same as those who are obvious big winners and big money makers for the school. No shade to the students who do play sports and work hard, but you haven’t been on the other side of the playing field. This article should be a small step in a long direction of change. There are quick fixes and simple changes in philosophy, put in place by the school. There’s also the fix of the student body standing up for every talented kid that goes here.

There’s a joke saying, “it’s not all about you,” and it’s true. Not only is it not, it shouldn’t be. If you belong to a big sport, you’ve got room in your spirit heart to cheer on others. We’re there for you, be there for us.This is also a hard part of the conversation to own up too. It’s what I said earlier, you can help. You should help. It’s the right thing to do. Help participate, stop ducking out the back door and show up to the halls or cheer in class if anyone gets a shout up by Elam.

It’s easy to say your life is difficult right now, it’s easy to say that you don’t care about those events, and it’s really easy to get bitter and say that no one ever cheers you on. And that is exactly my point. Helping others helps you. And once CHS gets into the habit of cheering on everyone to the same degree we cheer on the big peeps at this school, we’ll realize how much room we have in ourself to cheer on
others.

It’s time to put CHS spirit into practice and if the school is behind the times in cheering on the little people, we need to
step up and demand it, otherwise, we’re just moving forward the philosophy that some people do deserve more recognition, that some people are better because of the type of sport they play.
And that’s wrong.