Student section supports football team but ignores the environment

Udham Singh, Class of 2023

The crowds roar and cheer with enthusiasm at the West Park High School football games. Considerable amounts of students attend the football games at West Park. However, there are students who don’t go to the games and wonder if they are fun and there are students who do go to the games but notice the trash that is left in the games.

Angel Dacayanan a WestPark High School senior student says that, “At the last game like the first ever football game that we had at our school, the first one of the season this year I noticed that there were a lot of people there and they were really hype actually the student section would like go along with the chants and stuff but last year when I went to the homecoming game it wasn’t like that so I can tell like its getting a little more hype.” says Dacayanan. With more people attending West Park High School and the increased hype happening among students. People are growing a stronger community and being hyped up as a whole.

The hype of the games seems to be genuine. “It’s always been advertised but now I see like more people actually wanting to go but I don’t know maybe in the next one there might be less people cause I’ve heard “oh I don’t want to go to the next one and stuff like that.” I see more hype.” says Dacayanan. As the school grows a community of a larger size. People are socializing more and finding the games more interesting. Advertisements are seen by students but the students already enjoy the games a lot and especially more now.

“I think it’s entertaining but it’s not like my favorite thing.” says Dacayanan. Not everyone finds the game itself to be exciting. People also find the performances, community, and preparation of the games exciting as well. Dacayanan notes that, “I think like especially since there’s half time performances and stuff. I think people are pretty hype but I know most people are there to socialize and stuff and that’s like the main reason why they go.” 

Cheerleaders also notice the student section during football games. Senior cheerleader, Xiomara Luque says “They always try to cheer harder or like they are always doing the most, especially cause their crowd leaders are like people who are close with the football team or like were on the football team.” During the football games, the crowd leaders maintain the enthusiasm of the student section by starting chants that start the student section to get more excited and have the students cheer with more effort.

Luque also notices the enthusiasm of the crowds, stating that, “if it’s like a good game and super close then people are super like hyped up cause when you look at student section, usually it’s supposed to be filled all the way to the top but everyones pushing towards the front because they want to see like all of the game.” As the game goes on, students get really focused and excited throughout. Students are really enthusiastic and spirited when they are in the crowds. 

While students leave the football games, Luque notices more than just the crowd’s enthusiasm.“It can depend because we have only so many trash cans out in the bleachers so once the trash cans get full they usually cause a problem because people don’t have anywhere to put their trash but people are pretty good at cleaning up after themselves.” 

That may not always be the case. Dacayanan says that, “I do notice that there is cause there is some occurrences where like people were like throwing water bottles and I would see like chips, like the bags of chips on the floor. Especially like towards the end of the game more people leave.” During the course of the football games, students purposefully leave their trash or put their trash in the stands and stadium. As people are leaving the event people do not bother to throw away their trash in designated areas. As seen by Dacayanan, “You can really see it, in like the stands and stuff. So yeah there is trash on the football stadium.”