Williston has a lot of school spirit, but it still has a long way to go.

The Willistonian took the initiative to interview a few faculty and students to gauge their opinions about Williston’s campus spirit.

Brynn Saarela ’20 stated that it depends on the event, but that having games at the same time and on the same days limits the amount of whole-school spirit. Where Brynn focused primarily on athletics, sophomore Owen Hunter said spirit isn’t just about athletics. Spirit days would be a way to increase excitement and pride among students.

“I feel like the only spirit rally we have is the lion, that’s only for one team at a time,” Owen said.

Williston does have spirit days each spring, when we approach Willy Gras.

Owen also suggested that the Williston as a community should wear the colors blue and green to support the school. He offered some ideas about how the school can hold contests to see which students or grades represent the school most passionately.

Owen believes with more spirit days students can create more memories on campus.

Like Owen, a junior who wanted to stay anonymous thought that Williston could use more school spirit. “I feel like the school together [is] a community, but there isn’t really like a strong school spirit,” she said.

David Koritkoski, Associate Dean of Students, believes Williston has a lot of school spirit, and he told The Willistonian that school spirit is about more just cheering for teams.

“Yes, I think we have great school spirit especially when it comes to athletics,” Koritkoski said. “I wish we had a little more school spirit and pride in other areas of the school as well. You know, school spirit and pride could be making sure the dinning hall is clean and that we are recycling and taking on the new initiatives at the school.”

“I have always been proud to be part of Williston,” he added.

Robert Hill, Head of School, loves Williston’s school spirit, and sees students demonstrate it in several ways.

“We absolutely have school spirit, all you have to do is take a look at Willympics,” said Hill. “So that is a great example of our school spirit, but I see school spirit everywhere, I see it painting the lion, I see it at sporting events, I see it at dance concerts, I see it everywhere.”

“It is because of all y’all,” he added. “I think our students have incredible compassion and empathy and spirit for one another and that shows in all things we do.”

Anna Richardson ’21 thinks the level of school spirit depends on the senior class and what kind of energy they, as the leaders, bring to the community.

“I think school spirit depends on the grade,” Anna said. “I think a lot of the school spirit is reliant on the energy of the senior class. If the senior class has a lot of energy it affects the other grades. So it really changes year to year.”

Liam Coughlin, another junior, believes Williston has the right amount of school spirit, enough but not overboard.

“I think it has some school spirit, other schools sometimes have too much, but at Williston we are passionate about our school colors and mascot, but not to an extreme,” he said.