Have you noticed more school spirit on game days this season? Last year, the Blue and White Society had three Senior heads, one Upper Mid head, and a board made up of Seniors and Upper Mids. As their time as school spirit leaders came to an end, however, last year’s heads wanted more members of the community to have the opportunity to get involved in Blue and White. With additional leadership positions added for the 2018-2019 school year, the club aims to plan more school-wide events, as well as receive more ideas and feedback from the wider student body.

This year, the club will be led by six Senior heads, two Upper Mid heads, three Upper Mid board members, and six Lower Mid board members. Last year, with fewer leaders, heads were often spread thin between Blue and White and their other commitments. The addition of new leadership roles makes work easier on everyone involved in the club. Blue and White head, Ashton Welch ’19, said, “In the past, Blue and White heads have been overwhelmed with the amount of work they have to put into the club. This year, with eight heads, we all have a reasonable amount of work to do, but it doesn’t consume every moment [of our lives].”

Now, not only is the workload more balanced for all committee members, the addition of Lower Mid board members means younger students can be more involved. Blue and White Head Bradford Rawlings ’19 said, “We didn’t want the board to be only Upper Mids. We thought adding Lower Mids to the board would add more ideas and a better connection with the lowerclass students as a whole.”  

Blue and White plans on playing a larger role in the community this year. Blue and White’s Faculty Advisor, Mr. Cooper Puls ’11, said, “We’re making an effort to weave Blue and White into the everyday fabric of the school. We’ve been trying to ensure that there is Blue and White representation at all events in which large groups of students participate, such as [the] Club Fair and ‘under the lights’ games on Sprole Field.  Plus, we [will] try to have Bucky out whenever we can!  Definitely expect to see a larger Blue and White presence at events of all kinds this year.”  Blue and White board member Julia Chai ’20 said, “We all have the same goal – to create a really fun, spirited school atmosphere.”

Even this early in the season, coaches and players have noticed many more supporters and much more school spirit at each game. Harper Pertchik ’20, a member of the Girls Varsity Volleyball team, said, “We have had a much bigger turnout at each game. Last year we would only have a few people show up for games that weren’t against Taft, but at our game against Berkshire the other day the stands were full!”

The wider school community has noticed the shift in school spirit as well. Karla Aguilar ’20 said, “When I attended the Boys Varsity  Soccer game last Wednesday, there were [many] people supporting the team, and, even in the last few minutes, when we knew it was impossible to win, everyone was rooting and cheering just as hard.”