As with many schools, school spirit is very important here at Capital. But after the first school spirit assembly, it was important to find out just how crucial enthusiasm for our school really is. A great source of information on this topic was Angel Elam, who has organized many of these assemblies before this new school year. When asked about the event set up, she responded with, “It wasn’t very difficult with an outline; the only challenging part was lining everyone up and getting the tech people set up.” The challenges of organizing the gatherings are very minimal. She went on to explain the benefit of assemblies to students. She strongly believes that these assemblies benefit students. In her words: “They don’t just benefit students but the entire school. They are very fun and exciting.” Obviously these school gatherings are well worth the time and effort for the experience of coming together and celebrating not only our football team, but our school community as a whole. As Elam said, “They help build community which is very important. The more we have the more it builds a better climate.”

This year the spirit assemblies were set up by the Capital Cheer team and their coaches Piper and J’lynn and it was crucial to get their take on the subject. The next interview was with Annie Pham, a senior on the cheer team who had more insight to offer. When asked how school spirit assemblies have changed in Pham’s time here, she said: “There has been a lot more enthusiasm from the freshmen and more turnout at the sports games not just from freshman but students of every grade.” Pham seems to share Elam’s sentiments on the value of spirit for our school. When asked how important school spirit is, she explained, “Very. It shows how much we really care about our community.” Interestingly enough Pham had advice for leadership: “Try to involve more people outside of leadership in setting up the assembly.”

It was noticeable that the tradition of joining staff and students together is very crucial for the well being of our school as well as a fun way to end the day with dancing, cheer routines and other unifying activities.  It also serves as a reprieve from the stress of class for everyone. It may be take awhile to set up and organize such a large gathering that lasts only an hour, but it is well worth it every time. These spirit assemblies can possibly be held accountable for the larger turnout of students at our team’s games as supporting one another is being held as a CHS ideal. The sporting assemblies are fun, interactive, and a great tradition to continue many years into the future.