Spirit Stick Tradition Still Alive and Well
By Braxton Ward and George Zavala
Go! Fight! Win! Bears! It’s a tradition that has been going on for almost 50 years. Each class competing to see who can be the loudest and to earn instant bragging rights.
The tradition of the spirit stick started almost 50 years ago with the first known appearance happening in the 1972-73 school year. It started out as a thing the cheerleaders did to try to get the students more involved at the pep assemblies.
But it wasn’t a stick. It was a spirit ball. The cheerleaders gave the spirit ball to the grade that was the most spirited. It has since been changed to a stick and it is now competed for at the end of the assemblies where every grade tries to be as loud as possible with their assigned word.
But what does the spirit stick mean to students now?
The spirit stick is very important to a lot of the seniors including William Weston who says this about it, “Chrisman has a rich tradition of school spirit and the spirit stick is a large part of this. It fosters a competitive attitude between grade levels while remaining respectful.”
A lot of the seniors feel this way and want to make sure they go out on top at the last assembly.
Chris Toms feels this way, “It has been here so long and it gets the whole school involved. We need to end the school on a positive note to show the underclassmen how it’s done.”
Seniors are not the only ones that like competing for the spirit stick. Freshman generally do not compete very well at the first assembly while they are getting accustomed to high school but after that it is up for grabs by any grade.
Sophomore Jennica Mahurin said, “The goal is always to win it. I am looking forward to competing for it the next two years.”
The spirit stick has been going back and forth between the grades for the past five decades and only time will tell which grade it will go to next.
Go! Fight! Win! Bears! It’s a tradition that has been going on for almost 50 years. Each class competing to see who can be the loudest and to earn instant bragging rights.
The tradition of the spirit stick started almost 50 years ago with the first known appearance happening in the 1972-73 school year. It started out as a thing the cheerleaders did to try to get the students more involved at the pep assemblies.
But it wasn’t a stick. It was a spirit ball. The cheerleaders gave the spirit ball to the grade that was the most spirited. It has since been changed to a stick and it is now competed for at the end of the assemblies where every grade tries to be as loud as possible with their assigned word.
But what does the spirit stick mean to students now?
The spirit stick is very important to a lot of the seniors including William Weston who says this about it, “Chrisman has a rich tradition of school spirit and the spirit stick is a large part of this. It fosters a competitive attitude between grade levels while remaining respectful.”
A lot of the seniors feel this way and want to make sure they go out on top at the last assembly.
Chris Toms feels this way, “It has been here so long and it gets the whole school involved. We need to end the school on a positive note to show the underclassmen how it’s done.”
Seniors are not the only ones that like competing for the spirit stick. Freshman generally do not compete very well at the first assembly while they are getting accustomed to high school but after that it is up for grabs by any grade.
Sophomore Jennica Mahurin said, “The goal is always to win it. I am looking forward to competing for it the next two years.”
The spirit stick has been going back and forth between the grades for the past five decades and only time will tell which grade it will go to next.