Is it worth it? This is  the question that passes through every single student’s head when they think of attending a fundraiser, school-sponsored event, or pep rally. It definitely goes through mine. What’s the motivation to spend $30 on a dance when you could just hang with your friends down in the Village or stay at home having a relaxing night off? What is the point of spending those five dollars for a burrito at Seňor Grubby’s on Sage Creek Night? I can give you an answer: school community and pride, the two most important factors for developing a cohesive and empowered student body.

Sage Creek lacks this, no matter how many times ASB says we have it. We lack pride and conviction, we lack a proper voice and have no idea where our fundraising goes. So, what is the point? If we don’t know where our money is going, how will this support not only our current generation of students, but those to come? It feels like a false smile creeping along the athletic mall every dance that comes around. This year has felt lackluster compared to anything that has happened before: only one pep rally in nine weeks (no matter how corny it  gets, students still feel a connection to their sports and extremity programs), and, in my opinion, a very lackluster Grill and Chill. So far, seniors have had no activities pertaining to them, or at least not as many as last year. We had to make our own with Senior Assassins, and even that is self-funded and self-played.

As of now, Sage Creek is a spirited mess. We are desperate to have two fundamental values that have been trying to crawl through these last five years.  The spirit of the student is trying to peek out from the cloud of the status quo and really invigorate the special characters and community we hold dear. This is not to say the spirit of the students has not broken through before, but they are only strongest in times of crisis. Our rivalry with Carlsbad High School in years past gave the Sage Creek student a common thought: we must be better. This is normal for any high school rivalry, as competition brings with it a sense of pride and community. Then again, many students could not care less, with our own school having such a poor image in its own eyes and in others’ eyes as well.

Sage Creek is seen as the lowly underdog by surrounding schools,whether we like it or not. Students know that Sage Creek has a unique feel, and normalizing this feeling into words is incredibly difficult. No one has capitalized on this general sense of Sage exceptionalism. No one sees the students of Sage Creek in a more positive light because we do not show them how truly amazing or how barrier-breaking we are. If our own students can not take pride in their school, how can others?

How do we fix this? How do we in some way convince the everyday student that participating in school events is worth those five dollars? It is actually quite simple. Give students an actual voice. If anything, the majority wants a common good. If we want to actually make a change then we must have our input be taken into consideration, with the right representatives guiding us and giving the everyday student a common voice. This alone will invigorate students who have previously been quiet about their views, but due to fear of being shot down cannot properly express them. If we begin to move toward these values of students taking charge, then with the wide sphere of influence Sage Creek has, it will garner more and more aspiring leaders.

Pep rallies hint at the greater things to come. Events like Class Cup are fun but only provide bursts of this sense of competition and identity. Then, it just goes away until the next Class Cup event. This is not what should happen, but it does.

School pride is like the nationalism of a country. It needs good, caring leaders who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to bring about a “Golden Age” of school spirit and pride. Sage Creek has had no such leaders. There have been candidates and there have been mistakes made leading to more and more turmoil within the student body. It just never seems to work out, and now without a senior class given incentive to take charge and lead our school, how will the Sage Creek seniors end up?

The year is not over yet, and two trimesters are still to come. Take charge in your school community: become a leader, an motivator and a figurehead for what it means to be our B.E.S.T as a Bobcat. This is the only way we can inspire ourselves and create a supportive and revered community that strives to be the pinnacle of excellence in the Carlsbad Unified School District.