Silver Bluff High School Working To Reclaim School Spirit

Petticoat Junction, SC—Something is missing in the hallways at Silver Bluff High School…something has disappeared from the stands. At some point, the “school spirit” that stood behind the Silver Bluff Bulldogs, and their fight to five state championship wins…got lost.

Wil Moorhead, Silver Bluff High School student body president: “Before, you have that reputation…you build up to it, the students would be behind you all the way. Then once you have it, for that span of years or whatever, the students will kind of fall back off…and they don’t worry so much about being behind their team.“

Colby Kight, Silver Bluff High School student: “I was talking to the football players earlier, and they said they’d love to see more people come out there and have people come out, run on the field when they make a good win. We see big teams like Aiken High, they do that, they have a great student section, and South Aiken, they’re team isn’t very good, but they have a great student section…and since we have a really good football team, you’d think we’d have an even better student section, and it’s really disappointing when you don’t.“

So, in an effort to find where that spirit is hiding…several students are banding together as the “Bulldog Brotherhood” and trying to make some changes. Before, there were one or two pep rallies a year. Now, they’re trying to have one for each home game. The first one seemed to work…

Moorhead: “Aiken was our first home game, and we were able to pull out a victory, for the first time in several years against Aiken. Here at home.“

But, the next game was away, at South Aiken…

Moorhead: “We actually established a student section for the Aiken game, it wasn’t very full, it was right over there where the band is…“

Kight: “We had nobody there…maybe ten people. It’d be alot better for the football team if we supported them.“

So, the Bulldog Brotherhood tried again. Rules that were enforced have now been disregarded. Once clean faces in the classroom are now marked with blue and silver paint on football Fridays.

Kight: “Paint it up. However they want to do it.“

They’re even using disasters…like their concesssion stand burning down at the last home game, to spark the blue and silver spirit.

Kight: “We’ve been thinking up ideas for shirts that say ‘I survived the grease fire’ or something like that!“

One-by-one, they’re asking for students to turn out on Friday nights…

Moorhead: “I try to imagine if I played football and I was out there on the field, I would love to hear nothing, but the roar of the stadium.“

To help the lost school spirit find its way back to the stands…and help the Bulldogs, once again, find their way back to the top.

Kight: “We’re going to win state this year, easily.“

And when it happens, the Bulldog Brotherhood hopes to hear every student say “see you in the stands.“