Show a little SPIRIT, Hoyas: you have plenty to be proud of outside the sporting arenas. I hope you are over not being accepted to Harvard (I was rejected and I’m not complaining) because the apathetic college student act is old.
One way students are trying to revitalize waning school spirit is through the SPIRIT campaign, designed to appeal to those who are just not interested in displaying painted G’s on their bare chests at the MCI Center with Hoya Blue.
I was dubious of any club with a concept as nebulous as spirit, but the club’s head, Drew Rau (CAS ‘06), has broken down his goals into a simple four-pronged approach: T-shirt distribution, posters around campus, a full-length film about Georgetown and a re-vamping of the Leavey student center.
Rau’s volunteers have already sold 60 percent of the stock of spirit T-shirts, and it shows. They are on everyone from guys who slept in them last night to girls decked out BoHo style with a cut-off collar.
The most popular of the five designs is one with Jack’s picture on the front that says “Jack: Dog. Pet. Mascot. Friend.”
As for the movie, get excited. It will be acted entirely by Georgetown students. It will be filmed on location at the Georgetown campus. It will be Georgetown at its finest.
But the fact remains that Rau’s campaign would not be necessary if real school spirit were alive and well on campus. You know that our spirit clubs are not visible enough when you overhear a girl ask, “So is GU Pride like Hoya Blue?” at SAC Fair.
Nonetheless, the stiff competition to be a Blue & Gray tour guide, a New Student Orientation advisor or a GAAP ambassador shows that when provided with an opportunity, Hoyas do like to show off their Georgetown enthusiasm. Last spring, 325 students applied for 180 Orientation Advisor positions, according to NSO Coordinator Alison Noelker (CAS ‘07).
“When we see examples of school spirit, we sense the power of our community and how much we can accomplish when we’re working as one,” Dr. Daniel Porterfield, Vice President for Public Affairs and Strategic Development and a supporter of Rau’s campaign, said.
The campaign’s strategy of spoon-feeding us spirit makes it easy for us to participate on a daily basis.
Whatever your reason, it’s probably been a while since you actually thought about having pride in your school. Now it’s as simple as donning your tee or walking by a SPIRIT poster.
How long has it been?
