With rallies strictly limited and only three dances scheduled this year, there seems to be a mysterious absence of protest or reaction of any kind. As tempers have calmed these last few years regarding the administration’s controversial revocation of class colors and its new dancing policy, warrior spirit has fallen through the roof. Student attendance at almost every school function has declined significantly: this year, football games featured virtually empty bleachers west of the snack bar, class competitions struggled to find even ten spectators, the Homecoming-promotional rallies illustrated a fragmented student body to name a few. Unarguably, student life at West High has hit an all-time low in its last 4 years. People are driven by their own personal ambition on all sides of the spectrum, whether it be attending college after graduation or attending a party that night.

So what is it to be a Warrior? I doubt many students could answer that question—not the cheerleaders, nor the student council. I think our administrators feel the answer is exemplified when, as one journalist of this publication wrote, “all four classes [are] able to behave with discipline.” Here, creativity is scorned to perpetuate the status quo. But the status quo as it stands now is not a thing to be prolonged. The dearth of pride in West High is not something that should be continued. Where other schools might see planning student-body events as pleasure, we see it as responsibility. And with a student body too apathetic to remove itself from this bleak condition, and a faculty too engrossed in an unfavorable economic climate, a recovery for West High would be nothing short of a miracle.

A student at another school (maybe at South or Penn) might gleefully look forward to their school’s next dance; but a student at West might not know nor care that we won’t be having a Winter Dance. I take comfort only in the fact that one day, each student will have the opportunity to go to a college where people genuinely care about what they study and do. Am I the only one who wants to be at a school as electric and wonderfully-cliché as “High School Musical’s” East High? Well maybe, but a little spirit would go miles for this school. For an institution devoid of passion, eagerness, and devotion is one predestined to fail. If you feel the same, let your voice be heard.