Cheers. Drums. The buzz of conversations layered over one another. The pop of soda can tabs. Together, these sounds represent one of the most iconic parts of the high school experience: football games.
While there are other sports games students enjoy attending with their friends, football game attendance well exceeds any other extracurricular.
“Football games are a classic aspect of high school and are something I look forward to every year,” sophomore Carter Licht wrote to the Talon.
The 2024-2025 football season concluded after their final game in October, and now that the end of the school year is quickly approaching, it is the perfect time for Oak Park High School to add one more item to its summer bucket list: improving the OPHS football games.
This school year, I noticed a lack of engagement from the Oak Park community at home games. While the gap between sales this year and last year is slim, many people left halfway through or sooner in the games I attended. Our football team made it to the playoffs this year, so success doesn’t seem to be the issue. It left me wondering, what gives?
I asked and observed other students and noticed that there was one primary reason that students who were dedicated to attending games in the past weren’t this year: lack of spirit.
Spirit is such an important part of why football games are so enticing and fun. Most of the people who attend the games know next to nothing about how the game actually works, but go anyway because of how fun it is to cheer and talk with their friends. When students have good energy and participation, it inspires others to follow suit and create a more fun atmosphere.
“When my friends and I match each other’s energy [at the games] it’s so fun,” junior Dani Bojorquez said.
After comparing OPHS games to Westlake, Thousand Oaks and Newbury High Schools, I noticed that one of the biggest differences was the behavior of the students. Other schools with more established student sections had a full column of people in their pits, which added so much energy to the game.
“Newbury’s student section is packed tight like sardines, everyone is dressed up and cheering for our team,” NHS sophomore Kaelyn Lee said.
In contrast, the vast majority of students in attendance at OPHS games are walking around and not engaged with the field. This is something we can easily improve by incentivizing students to participate in the game. We can introduce exciting elements into our student section to make it more appealing, such as t-shirt cannons and organized chants. Other schools have also found success with drum-offs between the home and away schools’ marching bands, raising the stakes and fostering healthy competition.
ASB works tirelessly to create the themes, make posters and sell spirit wear and tickets for the football games. This is an enormous commitment for the students and faculty, and this work is delegated across the ASB committees.
“I’d say the hardest part about hosting football games is keeping the energy consistent, because the duration is so long, it’s easy for people to leave and have energy to die out,” senior ASB cabinet president Maggie Ruan said. “[It is] something that we’re working on and something that we want to improve on.”
In the OPHS bleachers there are also adults intermixed with students, which disrupts the usual energy flow throughout the stadium.
“We can [make] the student section more inviting to the students by making it clear to the parents that they should be seated in the section above,” sophomore Ella Gonzales said.
The work ASB has been doing over the past few years to increase spirit has been incredible, and there is always room for improvement.
“There are a couple people in our class who are working on OPHS Birdcage Instagram and TikToks, so I think just leveraging social media as another platform to spread word… is a really good idea,” Ruan said.
More consistent posting on the social media pages is an important first step, as there are a ton of trends circulating that could make a big difference in student engagement.
“As we continue with social media presence, the TikToks and word of mouth, spirit will continue to get better,” Ruan said.
But at the end of the day, ASB can only do so much– this change has to come from the students themselves. It is up to them to bring their energy to football games, and once one starts, it will spark a chain reaction of excitement throughout the school. By attending the games dressed on theme and cheering for their team, OPHS students can fulfill their important role in enhancing the game atmosphere.
Now that the football season is over, OPHS has the next 5 months to improve its methods and ensure that the 2025-2026 season is the best one yet.
