Life Before the Pandemic
It is clear that the pandemic has affected the way of living for everyone, especially students. As previously mentioned, this tradition at Granada has been passed down from class to class for decades. Many current students may wonder “What was skit and spirit like before Covid?”
Many alumni have their intake on this as they all agree there are many similarities and differences when comparing skit pre and post Covid.
Ms. Johnson explains that there are many, “…technical ways its evolved… skit was in the gym, the skits weren’t pre-recorded, before it was only adlibs [that were pre recorded.”
These changes may seem small however Johnson comments on how it made everyone more passionate and unified. These slight changes made the skits feel more personal and interactive.
Additionally, “The buy in was a lot different even though there was still the same amount of kids involved, but it was the buy in from the rest of the school…the rest of the school was super excited about it too,” said Johnson.
Though skits are mainly student run, teachers are still invested in the spirit of the skits as well; this is still true today. One aspect of Granada that has slightly diminished is the passion students have for being part of the community Granada creates.
Taylor Melton (2021 Granada alumna, cheerleader, and leadership student) dives into this idea as she explains that, “Students were very driven to make Granada more exciting.”
Not only that, when the class of 2021 returned to school after the pandemic, Melton remembers that, “The Freshmen never dressed up.”
This shift in passion and spirit was prevalent the first spirit week back from online learning. This could be due to the new students’ lack of knowledge of how spirited Granada traditionally is or simply that no one knew better. Though there is not a definite reason for this shift, the pandemic undoubtedly played a large role.
“Last year was the first full homecoming that you guys have experienced,” said Ms. Pang.
We all know that the Covid 19 Pandemic affected our way of life. Homecoming is a huge American tradition, not just a Granada tradition. 2022 was our first real high school year since the outbreak of the pandemic in spring of 2020. As we adjusted to returning to campus, seeing students and teachers in person, and learning the social aspect of highschool, we struggled with the upkeep of our spirit and overall participation.
“Participation was hard last year because most people didn’t know what it was about and the purpose,” said Pang.
Homecoming especially lacked effort and participation. Since the only class that had seen a full skit week or homecoming week was the senior class, “They had a lot riding on making sure they restored our traditions,” said Pang.
Leadership experimented with how the school could do skits outside, or pre-record the script, and even the decorations that were allowed on campus. Spirit at Granada is supposed to bring our community together and allow a sense of belonging for new students especially.
Many students take skit or spirit for granted and later find themselves saying, “I wish I had done that. I wish I was a part of that.” Students get mocked or teased for being involved in spirit and that discourages participation. Spirit is an important part of Granada atmosphere, this provides a fun aspect to school. It’s not just learning but now we have somewhere to belong.
“That is necessary for most people, and that’s the main reason for spirit weeks, to bring our school community together,” said Pang.
The negative attitude directed towards participating in school events leaves our community thin. If leadership, teachers, and older students don’t have a positive outlook on skit or spirit participation, our granada tradition will collapse.
Increasing Spirit
Despite the desire to increase the overall spirit of Granada, the student body finds it difficult to follow through with this idea. Class officers have found that Homecoming is a spirited event, however, skit participation has decreased over the years. This may have been because of the lack of examples from older classes, due to the fact that all classes who entered highschool pre-Covid have all graduated. This diminishes the value of skit as the incoming and current students at Granada have a fairly vague idea of how skit used to be.
Aiden Clarin, senior class DPR and leadership student, explains that, “Leadership itself does not prepare for Homecoming at all,” explaining that skit is the responsibility of each class.
Because of this, many students simply do not know how to get involved in these activities.
This may be due to the lack of advertising around the school as, “During Covid everything had to be on social media anyways, so we just stuck to that for the following years.” said Clarin.
Our school has begun to have a heavy reliance on social media and technology, and leadership and class officers use this to their advantage. Additionally, part of the planning of these big events and the releasing and announcing of spirit weeks and such is something that leadership students are “working on ” and “have a plan for improvement,” said Clarin.
Clarin also would like to inform everyone that each class officer, no matter the grade, will be happy to get you the information you need, so if there any questions, “Reach out and they will be happy to help.”
Furthermore, Ms. Johnson (2024 class advisor and Granada alumna) explains that she urges students to, “Be bold and stand out.” She explains that this will increase the likelihood of other students joining as well. Johnson continues to explain that if she were to give one piece of advice to students looking for ways to increase school spirit is to, “…increase the number of kids taking leadership and by increasing the buy-in from [students and] teachers too.”
Johnson reasons that if more teachers and students express their spirit in a “crazy” manner, more people will feel inclined to do the same. The overall lesson she seeks to get out is that, “It’s okay to get out of your comfort zone and do it [dressing up], and it will get more people to do the same (Johnson). Overall, school spirit and participation falls in the hands of the students themselves and it is vital that everyone does their part to make the school more spirited. One can do this by being the change they wish to see in the school and by getting information from class Instagrams and class officers/advisors.
Want to Get Involved?
Follow @Granada_2024 @Granada_2025 @Granada_2026 @granadahigh_2027 @houseofmatadors @granadarallies on Instagram
Remind Codes: Text @granada27 @granada26 @granada25 @granada24 to 81010
