“And the winner of this year’s spirit point battle goes to the freshmen!”

It’s safe to say that there’s something wrong with this declaration. If this so-called battle were to be fair, then either juniors or seniors would’ve won. (Most likely the juniors, given how much they scream.) Yet, evidently, this event is anything but. With a so-called “scream-o-meter” and a spirit point board that magically displays the points that each class “earns,” this contest without rules seems to be fairly simple – to rig.

It’s highly likely that the freshmen were guaranteed to win from the very start.

Perhaps this contest was an attempt to encourage the freshmen to have school spirit, as they are notorious for having no school spirit, due to just entering the school and being the youngest there – not to mention having orange shirts that nearly everyone believes are hideous. By letting them win and giving them food, it seems as if they’re just attempting to make sure that they don’t feel left out. That’s understandable, as I recall my friends and I having absolutely no school spirit at all during our freshmen year. The way that this event was done is what intrigues me, and it makes me wonder who the winner will be next year. It’s possible that the seniors will win, as the juniors (who would be seniors next year) have the fewest points, and there might be a riot if they don’t get anything other than first place.

Allegedly, the freshmen represent the largest proportion of the student population. One could argue that these higher numbers must be why the freshmen won, yet very few wear their class shirts or participate in any of the spirit days. They most certainly aren’t louder than the seniors or juniors. Sophomores, who had fewer points than the rest of the classes, most likely wore their shirts more often than them, as they are proud that they are no longer freshmen. Why would juniors, who are especially proud that they are largely able to drive and are on the verge of adulthood, have less spirit than freshmen? From what I recall, they were as loud as the seniors at the last rally, as well as others before. It makes me wonder where the freshmen class’s spirit points came from, as they seem to lose in every category other than population.

As one can see in the above picture, the freshmen beat the senior class by one point. The fact that the freshmen won by only one point may be to ensure that the seniors don’t get suspicious. Of course, here I am, writing an article on it, so clearly it could’ve been executed better. Points, by the way, seem to simply appear with very little justification, other than occasional announcements that seem to subjectively declare that a class has earned a point for [insert excuse here]. Personally, I doubt that any actual calculations were applied towards the distribution of points, not even the scream-o-meter. Did I add that the scream-o-meter is never in the actual center of the gym, so certain classes will have an advantage? Just a casual observation from the rallies I went to. Even if they did take numbers from it, it doesn’t make the contest fair.

This was the first year that the school decided to make an actual spirit board, displayed on the side of the library. Years before entailed rare announcements that a certain class won spirit points, with no actual rewards or physical display of the points.

We all know that the actual outcome of the contest doesn’t really matter, due to the non-existent rules and meaningless award (which was Chick-fil-a, in case you’re wondering). Despite the invalidity of it all, the most interesting thing remains to be the motive behind letting the freshmen win. Was it to give them confidence? Or was it to try to encourage the other classes to be more spirited? Think about it – the “bottom of the barrel” class (mean, I know, but that’s what some people refer to them as) is beating the other classes. This may have been an attempt made by ASB, or whoever the judge of the contest is, to foster more people to cheer at rallies and dress up for spirit days and represent their class.

Even if any of these claims are true, there’s no way to certify them, as I doubt anyone would admit the motives behind this event. Alas, the conspiracy theory stands.  What do you think?