Throughout these 330 years, community has always been a cornerstone of the academics and interests of Abington Friends School. During and after the pandemic, what defines a community has been gray, but that connection with students to their school has never disappeared. The student body’s participation in athletics, theater, government, and clubs/affinity spaces reflects this fact.
AFS is a small school that excels in academics and art, limiting a competitive environment. We don’t have the cliches of school spirit with football homecomings or animated spirit weeks.
Kendall Dixon ‘26 said, “We’re not the greatest at sports but…we make it fun…Winning all the points isn’t important.”
As Dixon mentioned, there are other elements of school spirit than just pride when games are won.
There is a sense of pride in the school that carries across divisions, teams, and is present regardless of victory or defeat. That is what is at the core of a community with a sense of dignity.
In an interview with Lisa Treadway-Kurtz, Assistant Athletics Director, there was a lot of excitement about the upcoming pep rally.
Treadway-Kurtz said, “I love to see the joy on a day like this. I just wish it would carry over so maybe this is the start!”
Treadway-Kurtz expressed her desire for school spirit to rise in the near future. Across athletics she urges student engagement stating, “When they can, just come out and see what their classmates are doing,” which is a good way to increase spirit and support.
Treadway-Kurtz also said she would like to “put a plug in for the arts,” emphasizing that school spirit does not only include support for athletic games, it should carry over into everything that is occurring in student life.
“There are some great things happening on this campus,” she said.
There is school spirit in many elements of life at AFS that should be celebrated to strengthen the community bond.
Student-led events such as Kicks for Cancer and Black Excellence Night have shown impressive turnouts that indicate how hard working and creative we can be.
Black Excellence Night brings the community together in celebration of Black culture and pride, and lifts up talent.
Kicks for Cancer raises awareness of a cause that affects many members in our community, and shows that no matter grade, age, or athletic ability we can show up for AFS in a way that demonstrates our school pride.
However, there are some mixed feelings among the student body on whether there is a lack of school spirit despite the participation in student life.
Lexi Campos-Teixeira ‘25, a member of student agenda committee, said, “I love my school…[school spirit] honestly makes school more enjoyable when you’re excited to be there everyday..[but], I think school spirit is definitely something we’re lacking. [It’s] been an issue that has been brought up in many of our STAC meetings as something we need to improve on.”
Connections across grades help to foster greater school spirit in the community. When more students have connections to more students they are more likely to want to watch, attend, and cheer at games including all AFS teams. A greater connection between grades in upper school could lead to more support for all the players on every team.
Grades interact through athletics, clubs, and affinity spaces. Spaces such as family groups that stretched across all grades were created in the 2021-22 school year but are not currently running.
When the idea of bringing back family groups was brought up at the junior class meeting, a unanimous “NO” filled the room.
School spirit and cross-grade interaction have also fallen short when there have been attempts for the past two years to have a school dance in the fall. Both were unsuccessful because of the lack of sign-ups.
Even though homecoming-type dances are a way for all grades in a high school to bond and collectively dress up to have a fun night, it doesn’t seem to be a sufficiently popular idea at AFS.
However, the AFS winter pep rally proved that we can show up as an entire school and engage with one another. The purpose of the pep rally is to show admiration for the Upper School Winter athletes from wrestling, girls and boys basketball, swimming, and indoor track and field.
At this event, when asked what students could do better to boost school spirit at AFS, Izzie Pugh ‘26 said, “Fill[ing] up that student section for sure and participat[ing] in school activities…and events.”
Overall, we urge students to be aware of the impact they have on school spirit. Both students and faculty alike have a role to play in the amount of school spirit that exists at AFS, but students have a unique ability to add to the atmosphere of support just by showing up more to support their classmates.
The best way for our school to improve our school spirit is for AFS students to show up more in support of friends and peers at athletic events, artistic showcases, and all elements of life on our campus throughout the year.
Will Hale • Apr 5, 2024 at 9:16 am
I think that AFS has school spirit. Especially when we have or spirit days and all the other important events. I think everyone contributes to making the energy from low to high in an instant. Also events like Kicks For Cancer and Black excellence night, our community always succeeded to make it a night to remember. But the AFS winter pep rally demonstrated that our school can come together and interact. The pep rally’s objective is to express support for the Upper School Winter sports teams, which include boys basketball, track and such others. I think the way we can improve to have more spirit is to just to keep up the love we have for our community
robbie • Apr 3, 2024 at 7:09 pm
I think AFS could have more school spirit. This most certainly does not pertain to everyone, but I definitely think the student body can be a little self oriented when it comes to things like that. A lot of people struggle with realizing there are other universes, or lives, beyond theirs, and it’s hard for them to consider how others may feel. Because of this, people usually don’t care too much for school spirit, or what it may mean to someone if they saw a fellow classmate come to their game or show. Again, this doesn’t speak to everyone, but i definitely think the AFS student body could be more empathetic.
Keira Kushin • Mar 13, 2024 at 5:58 pm
In some ways AFS does have enough school spirit, but in many other ways AFS does not. There is a lot of spirit for theater. School plays get a bunch of people to come out and watch. I notice that there is less school spirit and support for outside sports and for girls sports. An example of “enough” school spirit at AFS is the boys basketball games. The boys team gets a lot of acknowledgement and viewers. When it comes to girls basketball, however, there is a lot less audience and support. There is even less spirit for the fall sports including soccer and tennis which happen outside on the fields and the courts. We are not a competitive sports school, unfortunately, which is part of the cause for not enough school spirit. But there is also not a lot of school spirit for music concerts, the arts showcase and robotics. I believe AFS does not have enough school spirit, but that we can improve by supporting these other examples of school sports and arts.
Amaya Naté • Mar 12, 2024 at 3:17 pm
No I don’t think AFS has “enough” school spirit. I feel that at AFS there is such a wide range of activities that some may be interested in more than others. Due to this I think “school spirit” is weighed in what intrest people the most. It’s disheartening to see the lack of school spirit for activities beyond basketball at AFS. While basketball undeniably garners attention, a THRIVING school community should celebrate and support a diverse array of activities. Encouraging participation in a variety of activities not only enhances school culture but also strengthens the sense of belonging and unity among students. Let’s champion a more inclusive and spirited environment where every student feels valued and supported in their endeavors, let’s stay motivated.
Izzie Pugh • Mar 7, 2024 at 9:46 am
I think that AFS has enough school spirit. I think the school and its students have the spirit for the things that count. I think that this is clear in Black Excellence Night and Kicks for Cancer. These are both important events because they are student led events with a clear purpose. Sometimes, teachers will complain that there is not enough community involvement, but in reality, I think that is because they are focused on planning things that students are not passionate about or want to be involved in. In terms of athletics, I think people should definitely join more teams because it is a good way to build a community. I do not think that there is enough sports enthusiasm at AFS.
Jaydon • Mar 6, 2024 at 7:20 am
I think that the AFS as a whole doesn’t show enough school spirit when it comes to things like big sporting events. I think that it is probably due to us being a smaller school and not being able to generate a hype or exciting environment. But I think we show our school spirit in the little things that we are passionate about such as various smaller clubs, because our community is so small I think it makes us more appreciative and supportive of each other’s interests. I think that is a type of school spirit that typically goes unnoticed, but it is subconsciously felt during our day-to-day lives
Timur • Mar 4, 2024 at 12:14 pm
AFS and the athletics at AFS could definitely use some more spirit but I think that the primary reasons for that are the fact that there’s a lot of other things going on at the same time as sports and it is really hard to manage. There are two big theatre productions a year and they happen during the times that the sports so people have to manage that plus since half of the people that play sports can’t drive themselves or don’t have a car to drive themselves they have to work around their parents schedule and the schedule of their siblings too (if they can drive/don’t have a car) so it can be hard to make it to practices and other events at times.
Josephine • Mar 4, 2024 at 9:42 am
From what I have seen, I think that AFS athletics and arts could definitely benefit from an increase in student support. However I think the reason most people, including me this year, do not go to games for other sports or buy tickets for the theater productions are because they spend a lot of, if not all, of their time on their academics and their own extracurriculars. When I was doing tech for the wiz in the fall and swimming in the winter, I did not have a lot of time after these activities to go to another game. I think the student body as a whole could benefit from more attendance and support for sports, however I believe that it would also mean that it would take away time from our other commitments.
Noah Schott • Mar 4, 2024 at 7:56 am
I completely agree that AFS is lacking school spirit as described here, however, I would like to expand on the topic of the pandemic affecting how we interact as individuals because I believe it is deeper than it seems. In my experience, I was not able to interact much with my peers (aside from my family) during the pandemic, and this fact may be shared among many students as well. We are by nature social beings, so the interaction and relationships between friends, families, and peers are crucial for not just mental health but the strength of the bonds we have with these people. Furthermore, the bonds that we currently have deeply impact the new ones that we will form in the future. Without the connections that were lost due to the pandemic isolation, there may be a lack of a basis or foundation for the relationship of individuals to the community as a whole. Because the reconstruction of the bonds with immediate peers such as friends and teachers may be underway, I believe it has blinded us to the importance of the community we create simply by being present. To conclude, our involvement/interaction in the communities that we form was dismantled by the shockwave of the pandemic and I believe we have yet to fully recover from it. Although it may be beneficial for the school to offer more social opportunities, it is also our job as students to put ourselves out into the community to manifest and recover the spirit we have lost.
Tamara Brockington • Mar 3, 2024 at 8:25 pm
Although I do agree that we don’t show enough school spirit, I do believe that there is a deeper explanation to this. Personally, I am not usually able to attend the sports events. This is because I am busy with other things such as JMASS or robotics, and they usually eats up in my afternoons. This could be the same predicament for other people, as we are all required to have a specific amount of extracurriculars or “RooPacs” to graduate. However, let’s be clear I do love this school and its community, to the bottom of my heart. Yet, I do think it is unrealistic that we have to live up to show school spirit all the time if we are required to spend most of our hours serving our school community as well.
Solomon • Mar 1, 2024 at 11:15 pm
AFS does not quite have enough school spirit. I agree and understand the points that we are still filling some gaps in the community, after many years of strange social-emotional growth through COVID. This is further enforced by our second annual Quaker theme of renewal which really speaks to resiliency and as mentioned by Izzy Pugh just showing up to community events. When Lisa Kurtz referenced the joy that is experienced in moments like the Pep Rally, and hoping for it to continue, it does not always as hoped by faculty because people have their own set interests and may be super into arts, and see this as separate from sports. Then choose to withdraw from supporting peers in sports because of they believe their affinity of athletics or art can not exist with spirit for art or sports.
James • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:59 pm
No AFS students do not have enough school spirit at all. Most people that I have talked to are embarrassed to say that they go to AFS. Only some people are willing to put their school on and be proud of where they go. Also when it comes to sporting event or plays only a few people are at just about every event. Now I get that some people have certain interest but that feels like it leaves a hole in that community space. I feel like there would be much more of a positive connotation about AFS from outside high school students if we were proud of where we went as a whole. It would make for a more positive community.
Rihanna W. • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:48 pm
I think AFS needs more school spirit in all aspects. In athletics, arts, and just activities in general. It’s amazing to celebrate and acknowledge the accomplishments your peers have achieved. When I express that, I mean for all achievements. I tend to see certain teams or activities get more recognition for their achievements then others, which shadows other great accomplishments. I believe that’s what I think deranges the school spirit here at AFS. It requires everyone to engage in, and raise the spirit of our community. The force of school spirit unifies the student body, faculty, and alumni in a shared sense of pride and fulfillment for their school. Engagement and respect towards one another is vitally necessary for the improvement of school spirit.
John • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:47 pm
We have never had more than 20 people at a soccer game(this is very rare) basketball games even varsity are the same. Few students watch tennis matches and wrestling. Not to mention that many sports don’t get student support whatsoever. Almost all turnout is parents. As a student-athlete, it can be sad to put a lot of effort into winning something just for no one to come. now we didn’t win a lot but maybe it’s hard to try when no one is even watching. I know that I perform better with support from students in our school and I think its important that people come to support sports at AFS so we can improve the enjoyment for everyone.
Mason Fullerton • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:44 pm
I feel that AFS does need more school spirit specifically in athletics. AFS generally has a lot of school spirit, I see it in the halls daily. Students engage with each other and are invested in their learnings. But I do feel AFS lacks school spirit. As someone who does media work for our school’s athletics capturing the moment of a game is always enjoyable, but having a student and a fan section alongside with me makes it even more fun and creative to produce content. I know sports aren’t everyone’s hobby or “thing”, but showing up and having spirit for athletics doesn’t mean you have to be a sports fan, but more are supporting each other as an AFS community. I see a lot of other schools who get student sections not only for when it is spirit night, or for basketball. But for their other winter, fall, and spring sports. I just feel AFS has even more potential to have more school spirit than I feel it lacks, which is in athletics and it would be a great thing to have more student sections often, than just a couple times a year.
Jermaine • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:44 pm
AFS has moments where we show enough school spirit in sports, but little to none in the arts. For instance, I think we symbolized school spirit very well during the pep rally, but it all felt forced. Everyone is forced to come to the pep rally which forces school spirit to be shown. I think events like Kicks For Cancer and Black Excellence Night are positive ways to embody our school spirit as they bring together the community for different reasons. I think the arts program should maybe hold more events like those to bring the community together to celebrate these students’ talents.
Marcellus Jeter • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:43 pm
AFS does not have enough school spirit. Due to the the small size of our school, fostering school spirit is challenging. We may actually have spirit, but it would take 100% of our community to make our spirit seem strong. We are stretched too thin, and it would take everybody to go everywhere for our community to seem full. However, we can do better. We can hold more days like Spirit Day when the whole school works together and it feels like a positive environment. We can do better.
Nico • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:40 pm
I believe at AFS when it comes to school spirit, this institution is severely lacking. While there have been instances in the past where our school spirit has been shown – last year’s boys basketball senior night or this year’s winter athletics spirit night – typically this school does not exhibit a strong sense of spirit. Many times when an institution or school is lacking in a certain area members of the community look for someone to blame, however, I believe in this case such blame can not be directly placed on anyone. I feel that the fact that our school is very small directly correlates with the lack of school spirit. It is very difficult for anyone, no matter how talented or skilled, to rally a small crowd of kids, especially those with a history of having a lack of spirit for their school. Given this dilemma, I’m worried about the future of school spirit since it is more of an institutional problem rather than a problem of culture.
Ethan Farma • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:36 pm
In my opinion, AFS has school spirit but does not show it in many different things. An example of this is the basketball games. The basketball games show a majority of AFS’s spirit as they bring the most amount of energy to any of the sporting events. While this is great there are many places for improvement like either other sports teams or just events in general. Although there are many events like senior day, but still almost nobody comes out to any other sports. I feel a way that this could be improved is sports teams need to bring more energy to whatever home game they have, like giving more announcements to get more people to come out or to make posters.
Noah Sung Yoon • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:35 pm
The question of AFS’s school spirit travels back to a major issue that started back before any of the students on campus were high school students. Long ago way back in the 2000s-2010s there was a major push to allow theater to receive the ever essential Roo PACs. in my opinion this is part of what hurts AFS school spirit the most. Students are frequently self isolated by cliques and friends groups often which meet through things like sports or theater. For those who have roots that trace further back, oftentimes are unable to come and spectate other games or to support their friends due to the way that sports have been separated. If AFS is to increase school spirit, which I believe it desperately needs to, coaches, directors, and other staff need to make it easier for students to go and support smaller games. Not just the Senior Days, and the big finals. Students also have to make an effort to go to these games and cheer each other on. In doing so it helps build community and helps AFS be a better school.
Luca Lemmo • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:34 pm
In my opinion, Abington Friends does have a lot of school spirit. Because our school is very small and we value community, we have many events that value school spirit. Events like Spirit Day, Arbor Day, Kicks for Cancer, and Field day, are all examples of school spirit. Although spirit is defined by sports at many other schools, our community as a whole is our spirit. We have a tight and supportive community at AFS with a lot of diverse and different people. However, I think there is still room for improvement and there is never enough school spirit. I think the best way to increase school spirit is by continuing to have these events that help boost connections.
Aly • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:31 pm
One of the things I wish AFS had the most is school spirit. Our school is bustling with passionate people but we need more conviction for others enthusiasm. Many do not go to the school’s events or student-led events because of how they are led. Most people do not want to stay after school or come to the school over the weekend because they prefer just to stay home. I think it is important for our school to start fostering an environment that people want to be in even when they are not here. Then and only then will people actually show up for things like that.
Lukas • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:28 pm
I believe AFS has a relatively average school spirit, especially in comparison to the other friends league schools who also have just as many people attending events as us. Compared to other schools though AFS seemingly has low levels of school spirit, for instance the PCL Championship at the Peletsra between Roman Catholic and Archbishop Ryan saw a huge crowd of attendees showing their support, and other school in the greater Philadelphia region who not only have a great amount for support at sports events, but also arts activities like plays and showcases too. The only way for our school spirit to grow is for the students to start being more active in the community.
Logan Copeland • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Our school, Abington Friend School, needs more School spirit. Being at this school for almost 11 years, Having been a part of this school for almost 11 years, I have witnessed a significant shift in our sports program. Previously, we had an abundance of students eager to participate in sports, and we had to form additional teams, such as A team and B team, to accommodate them all. However, currently, we are facing the challenge of a lack of student involvement in some sports, which has resulted in a decline in our team’s performance. When games such as basketball and soccer come up, I am faced with the reality that it won’t matter because we will lose. I think the only way we will see a change in School spirit is if our sports teams can improve.
Eli Belotserkovskiy • Mar 1, 2024 at 11:50 am
I think that AFS has lots of school spirit when it comes to sports but not so much Art or other activities. We have Spirit Day and Kicks for Cancer and various other things. However, for Arts, the program is a bit more lacking. I don’t remember a lot of activities and it is a bit more lacking. Everything has its moment but I think on normal days the spirit isn’t prevalent enough.
John • Mar 1, 2024 at 1:42 pm
We have never had more than 20 people at a soccer game(this is very rare) basketball games even varsity are the same. Few students watch tennis matches and wrestling. Not to mention that many sports don’t get student support whatsoever. Almost all turnout is parents. The theatre gets new sets and costumes twice yearly and is always sold out for plays. yet there are more student-athletes.
Tiye • Mar 1, 2024 at 11:40 am
I believe that AFS has average school spirit because students do not engage with the sports or arts at AFS beyond what they or their friends are involved with. We can improve that by having more events to highlight not only winners, but those who participate. Kendall Dixon, 26′ stated: “We’re not the greatest at sports but…we make it fun…Winning all the points isn’t important.” By stating, “we make it fun,” Dixon implies times when AFS has celebrated those participating in sports and the arts or when she might have watched an AFS team play a sports game or watched an AFS performance in the arts. Regardless of winning, if we honor the students who participate, the student body would come to appreciate it and show more school spirit. As Lisa Treadway-Kurtz, Assistant Athletics Director, stated: “Some great things are happening on this campus,” and if we honor these students by hosting more fun pep rallies with student input while planning them or creating other events where the student body can recognize them, we can increase school spirit at AFS.
Pax • Mar 1, 2024 at 11:38 am
At Abington Friends School, I don’t think we have enough school spirit. We have pep rallies sometimes, but those can feel mandatory, and there is not enough school spirit for the arts. I think the arts deserve just as much support as sports do, because so many people are putting their time and energy into their talents and are excited to share them. It is important that there is excitement for things like plays, because they create experiences for the people in them. I think people need to get more interested in the schools activities, like sports, concerts, and plays.
Leila • Mar 1, 2024 at 11:32 am
I think that AFS could have way more school spirit in both arts and athletics. However, one thing that makes it kind of hard to support some sports is the fact that sports like track and swimming can not have home meets because AFS does not have a place for them to be held. Maybe if our school was to be able to host meets from those sports it would make it so people could watch more sports in the winter than basketball if they are just not interested in that sport. And for the arts just feel that maybe there should be more announcements and events that could make it so the student body could be able to support it more.
Rayan • Mar 1, 2024 at 11:30 am
I think that AFS has enough school spirit even though they do not have very big sporting events like public schools. I think this because AFS has many other events that are student-led like Kicks for Cancer and black excellence night. some students still think that there can be more improvement for having more spirit with different grades.
Matthew • Mar 1, 2024 at 10:50 am
While I think the school has its moments of school spirit, (like the pep rally) thats all they are, moments. On the regular most students don’t really care about school or the events. A factor that makes this worse is thoses moments like the pep rally often force you to have school spirit. When school spirt is forced it only makes students dislike school more. The solution that comes to mind for me is lettting students natually find community. Similar to what said in the artical, people showing up to games and supporting each others interests is the best way to build community.
Isabel Grey • Mar 1, 2024 at 9:41 am
I think that AFS’s type of school spirit is very different from the stereotypical school spirit as it is seen in most schools. I think that the school spirit that AFS has is much subtler than the school spirit of other schools. It is harder to see but still powerful all the same. I do think that AFS students should attend more sporting events but the frequency and variety of locations of after-school activities can make attending activities that you are not actively participating in very challenging. The strong support of our theatre department is another example of our school spirit being shown differently, for example, the wiz earlier this year was the most sold-out show in AFS history and that shows a tremendous amount of growth in support of various school activities.
Liam Hilliard • Mar 1, 2024 at 9:19 am
Although a lot of what makes a “traditional” school spirit isn’t present at AFS, I’d argue we still do have it in spades. At many schools, “spirit” is defined by sports; that’s where much of the community and school spirit stems from. And although AFS does have a thriving sports environment, as Kendall said in this article, it’s not the same as other schools. Where AFS has spirit is not in sports necessarily, but in the community as a whole. We have a tight-knit and supportive community at AFS that houses a large variety of people, and that’s what gives us school spirit.