Chants, cheers and colors: for the past football season, ASB has been organizing student sections for every Friday-night game to bring more spirit and excitement to the games. An American high school tradition, student sections are the most vocal section of the bleachers reserved for students. In high morale, students arrive at football games in face paint, tutus, bandanas, glow sticks and more, imbuing the football field with energy. 

“It’s such a new concept to people, and not everyone has been introduced to the idea of a student section,” junior and ASB Public Relations commissioner Alison Ho said.

Although not yet a tradition at Lynbrook, ASB has made their first attempts at a student section after seeing its rise in popularity on social media. Ho leads this project with the help of ASB Social commission.

“I think that it’s cool that we finally have a student section at our football games,” senior Samantha Strand said. “I felt like there was a lot more spirit from the crowd, especially at the Homecoming game, with all the student supporters sitting together and participating in the Red Out theme for that night.”

However, Lynbrook’s first attempt at a student section for the Sept. 23 game with a navy-blue theme was a rough start, due to an underwhelming amount of students who showed up.

“Everyone was very quiet, and it was super awkward to even try to get people to cheer for our football team,” Ho said.

The “White Out” student section at the next game, on Oct. 7, showed great improvement, with more participation from students and less uneasiness on the bleachers. Prior to the game, ASB decorated the bleachers and promoted the game’s theme on social media, which helped to elicit more spirit from students. 

“That sense of encouragement that student sections bring makes me feel like I’m a part of a really spirited community,” sophomore and cheerleader Ishani Upadhyay said.

ASB’s deciding factor to continue planning student sections was the turnout at the Homecoming game, which was a success — the beachers were full and students initiated their own chants.

“Seeing support from the students definitely boosts our team’s energy and helps our morale,” junior and varsity football player Dylan White said.

An all-around increase in positivity for most students, the student section proves to be effective in improving spirit.

In addition to having student sections at football games, all the fall sports teams were contacted about promoting a student section for their senior nights. There was a large turnout at the games whose players promoted this, such as field hockey’s senior night, where everyone dressed up in hot pink to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“The cheers from the student section brought me hype during the game and helped drive our team to maintain the desire to win high,” senior and varsity field hockey player Avni Mangla said.

Excited by the new concept of a student section, students look forward to enhanced themes for future games. 

“I felt like the themes were mainly related to school colors which is a good way to show school pride,” Strand said. “However, I would have loved to see themes like a Pink Out in October for Breast Cancer Awareness or dress-up themes like Beach Night.”

Although ASB started out with simple themes, they have plans to have larger themes for the future football games.

“I hope that next year, people will be warmed up to the idea of a student section, and we’ll be able to do themes that people can go all out for,” Ho said. “We have to start small and then slowly build up.”