What is school spirit? Is it participating during spirit weeks? Is it attending every home football game? Is it bragging to your friends about how great Washburn Rural is? Unfortunately, a flurry of negative events at school has forced me to reevaluate the meaning of school spirit.

The first harmful incident occurred a few weeks ago when one of my friends handed me her phone. She told me to watch it. My curiosity quickly turned to anger as I realized it was a lengthy video relentlessly mocking a student about her passion.

Then, at the home football game on Oct. 14, the student section allegedly booed the band for their halftime performance. Marching band is the largest activity at our school; it involves over 200 students. These individuals put in countless hours into their passion.

Yet, in retaliation to being booed, some individuals in band decided to blame the misconduct upon the football team. They proceeded to mock the football team for their 34-27 loss to Seaman on Oct. 14. Similar to marching band, football is an activity that involves numerous students. In fact, the football team is the largest athletic program at the school.

These negative actions forced me to ponder the meaning of school spirit. These events taught me what school spirit is not and led me closer to understanding what school spirit really means.

School spirit is about supporting all individuals affiliated with Washburn Rural in all of their endeavors. This spirit should not depend on whether someone is involved in a popular activity such as football, or a less recognized one like math club. Every person at Washburn Rural has a talent, a passion or something else that makes him or her unique. School spirit should not only be applied for wins or successes. School spirit is support through ups, downs, highs, lows and everything in between. School spirit is something that should be cultivated and appreciated, and maybe with a little school spirit, Washburn Rural could become a place people are proud to call home.