Natalie Laymon and Chloe Reynolds holding up a gift card they won from the Streaks in the Stands raffle.
School spirit is making a comeback as three Lake seniors take advantage of their National Honor Society project to improve attendance at sporting events. Seniors Angel Montelongo, Landon Martin, and Giada Szekeres are promoting their “Streaks in the Stands” NHS project, a project that promotes home game attendance by rewarding participating students with a chance to win gift cards in a free raffle.
When asked about why she joined the project, Giada Szekeres responded, “At Lake, we have some school spirit, but I really wanted to make it big for all sports.” Szekeres, Martin, and Montelongo all come from less attended sports, with Martin and Montelongo playing for the boys’ soccer team and Szekeres participating in ballet. The project is very dear to them due to their own experiences with attendance at their own events. Szekeres’ goal is to have a lasting effect on Lake, stating that her goal is, “To make students feel unified and make school spirit a more prominent thing. I just want to bring students together.”
Streaks in the Stands has been working with Mr. Brock Cline, Lake Athletic Director, to assist with this undertaking. Mr. Cline feels a personal connection to the project due to his position, and he currently sees a need in student section attendance.
“The gold standard for student sections at Lake would be our varsity football games. All of our other sports, I think, there’s some work to be done,” stated Cline.
The current attendance for previously popular sports, such as boys’ basketball, has also wavered. Mr. Cline also noted how a majority of attendance for sports like volleyball is composed of middle schoolers who are involved in the sport.
Mr. Cline hopes to achieve a collaborative and supportive environment for all student-athletes.
“I think we do a really good job of supporting our own [sports]. We probably don’t do a great job at supporting other student-athletes.”
Juniors Natalie Laymon and Chloe Reynolds were the first students to win a raffle from Streaks in the Stands.
“I really enjoyed seeing my peers in their extracurricular activities,” Laymon stated.
“I think it’s a great way to get more people excited about sporting events,” Reynolds added.
The project members are pleased with the support they’ve gotten so far and hope to gain more traction in the future.
The project members and Mr. Cline hope to create an environment where student-athletes can feel comfortable and are willing to support one another. An environment like that can take a long time to achieve, but with student support and recognition, the project members are confident in their abilities to make it happen.
