The Spirit Squad of Benilde-St. Margaret’s decided earlier this year to create ‘Spirit Tickets’ in hopes of encouraging students to get involved in school spirit activities. The main purpose of spirit tickets is to increase student participation by making events more exciting and rewarding. These tickets are given to students when they participate in activities, such as dress-ups, pep fests, and sporting events. Students can be rewarded with fun prizes for putting their spirit tickets in the raffle.
The BSM Spirit Squad has hopes of boosting school pride for the 2024-25 school year. So far, the launch of spirit tickets has made a noticeable impact on Red Knight school spirit participation. The attendance at sporting events has increased, and more students are engaging in school spirit activities. For example, throughout homecoming week, students were competing with each other for who could do the best in school dress-up days; cheers at the pep fest were louder than ever, and more Red Knights showed up to sporting events, some including the boy’s volleyball tournament and girls powder puff. The goal is to continue this progression throughout the school year. “We are trying to make a reward system for people to actually participate in different events throughout the school. I just think in past years, it’s been kind of lacking just people not dressing up or showing up to different sports games. So a spirit ticket is a way to get people to show up and participate,” senior spirit squad member Brooklyn Riley said.
Since the launch, there has been an exponential increase in student participation. Students are now more excited than ever to participate in school activities, thanks to the spirit tickets. “I think a lot of students are more excited and definitely participating more in dress-ups. I’ve seen a lot of cool ones this year and I can’t wait for more fun dress-ups,” senior Emmy Eilertson said.
The new reward system is a big reason that the spirit tickets are a great success, and students have shared positive feedback. As students collect tickets, they are dumped into a raffle; therefore, the more you participate, the more likely you are to win a prize. The prizes have sparked the interest and excitement of Red Knights participating in school events. “I think students are way more into participating in school spirit activities, especially when they hear about prizes. They are more willing to dress up when they know that they’re not gonna be the only ones showing up to school doing the dress up, because more kids are actually doing it,” senior Isabella Yacoub said.
Spirit tickets have rekindled a community of school-spirited Red Knights by boosting participation amongst most students. Moving forward, it is crucial to continue encouraging students to participate in future events. Increasing numbers of Red Knights are getting involved in school pride, creating a stronger community.