Dress-up days are a huge part of school spirit, bonding students and staff together with the option to match with friends, peers and teachers provides a unique opportunity for all students to feel included. Edmond Memorial High School’s Student Council has made the decision to make every football game day a dress-up day as well.
“It’s easier for [students] to dress up in school spirit knowing the student body will participate as well,” Student Council Spirit Chair Turner DeFreese said. “It definitely helps students with comfortability.”
Football games are a huge part of EMHS and an aspect of high school as a whole. Each game has a different dress-up theme for the student section to encourage more students to come to the games and increase excitement. The cost and uniqueness of the dress-up days has been a concern in the past, so students are looking for new inexpensive ways to become involved.
“I think the dress-up days need to be easy and something everyone can find,” Freshman Principal Carrie Higdon said. “It shouldn’t require families to have to buy a lot, and I think there will be more buy-in when there’s easy costumes that can be done for dress-up days.”
EMHS’s student section, known as the Dogpound, was named the No. 1 student section in the state last year, and they hope to continue this trend. By making the game theme a school dress-up day, Student Council hopes that the game attendance will increase dramatically.
“We want everyone to go to the football games,” STUCO co-advisor Elanna Dobbs said. “DeFreese does a really good job at promoting students to be a part of the Dogpound.”
Another reason for increased game attendance is the team itself. While continuing the Dogpound’s precedent of excellence is a goal, the purpose of the crowd is to encourage the team. EMHS’s football team made the playoffs for the first time in their new stadium last season and would like to see a repeat of last year. Energy and excitement are the best ways to help the team win games. The atmosphere of the stadium is changed by the students, so having increasing attendance through a dress-up day is a promising new idea.
“It’s exciting for the team to come to school and see the support through the dress-up theme and see everyone rallying behind them,” Defreese said.
Involving students is a priority EMHS accomplishes through frequent dress-up days. Achieving this feat helps the football team by increasing the Dogpound attendance while showing the importance of school spirit.
Contact Ian Humphreys at [email protected]
