What’s that smell, is it school spirit?

By Kevin Schaefer | Staff Writer|

I seem to have forgotten something, is it my textbook, my homework or is it my pants? No, It’s school spirit!

But, what exactly is school spirit?

“School spirit is when you feel proud about your school and you really want to show it … you want [others] to join with you and have that kind of feeling,” said student Andy Quintana.

School spirit is pride, it’s within you, and you want others to feel it too.

But, school spirit does not just appear out of nowhere and many students are not on campus long enough to feel it.

“To be honest this is my second quarter here and I haven’t been able to really fully engulf in the whole ‘school spirit’ per se because I am here and then I go to work,” said student Jennifer Misko.

Sara Leighton, member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, remembered a time when her school spirit was not up to par.

“When I first came here and I wasn’t involved, I wanted to leave and I didn’t wanna spend any more time here,” said Leighton.

After joining a club on campus, the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, things changed.

“[Clubs] get you to want to be more involved. You are more proud to say ‘Hey I’m part of Cal State San Bernardino, not only that, but I’m actually part of a club.’ And that’s not just for sororities or fraternities, but for any club because it makes you feel part of the school, raising school spirit,” said Leighton.

“How can we raise our school spirit?” I asked Leighton.

“More things to get everybody involved, not just people in clubs. We are a really big commuter school, so not everyone has ties to the school by living here. I feel for the people who don’t live on campus, there should be more,” said Leighton.

CSUSB has had some great events in the past that students remember.
Student Daniel Mambo said, “We have had some cool stuff like Kevin Hart, that’s pretty cool, more stuff like that.”

Alissa Ochoa remembers our first block party from a few years ago.

“CSUSB’s first block party actually had real artists like Ryan Leslie and Nina Sky, I know it costs money, but if you bring actual people to perform you would get more of the students to go out there and see something they would enjoy,” said Ochoa.

Students agree that bringing in big names to perform in the past was a great way to improve our school spirit.

Another student, James Johnson, feels more competitive activities to be the key.

“Just more activities because it seems like there are a bunch of activities in the beginning, a few at the end, but the middle is left kind of dry,” said Johnson.

When it comes to school spirit, I believe Quintana said it best. “Any little kind of participation helps, even if it is just minimalist. I think the school could do better.”

Since we, the students, are the school, we could do better.