Throughout the four years of being a Titan, a lot has changed. Food catering, staff, and of course the fellow students that walk the halls of Notre Dame. One thing that has always remained a constant though? The constant need to win. When the Titans first walked through the doors as freshmen, the pressure was immediately on to make royals, the Titan’s sister class at the time, proud. But, has the pressure spiraled out of control? Is school spirit slowly tearing classes up from the inside out?

If one knows anything about the Titans, it is that they do not like to lose.  They have always been known as loud, and use those who can be loud to the best of their ability come Aquacades time. However, not everyone is interested in losing their voices at spirit events. Some accept that others do not have the passion that they personally do, because no one should be lectured due to how spirited they are, especially by their own classmates. Upperclassmen have their plate full, whether it be with the SAT, sports, a job, or just with the sheer workload they have within the classes. Pressure to be spirited all the time should not be added to the already colossal amount of commitments present.

Some would argue that classes work well under pressure, and by constantly badgering fellow classmates, it is purely to get their fellow sisters motivated. However, the line is being frequently and severely crossed from being motivational to being mean. At the Dingbat Day rally, tension was high within the senior section of the bleachers, as for the first time since freshman year, they were in third place for spirit points. Students known for their surplus of spirit moved to the back of the bleachers to ensure that students who normally remain quiet would begin to speak up. To most students though, the Dingbat Day Rally went from being a fun event to get in the Halloween spirit to a hassle.

However, spirit points are not just for the seniors, and to see the whole population, other classes need to be asked the same question: Is there too much pressure within these walls? Alumna Kavita Thomas gave insight on looking back at NDB, and seeing just how much pressure their was to succeed within the four walls. Thomas says, “The pressure at NDB was always there. I mean, it always was. But mavs [Mavericks class of 2018]  never really cared about that. We just went with it. But yeah it was irritating when teachers would call us out because we were so lax about everything with not turning forms in and a bunch of other stuff. We just wanted to have a good time without the amount of pressure we received.”

Gator Elizabeth Mendoza  says, “The amount of pressure to succeed and win in this school gives me more social anxiety than I would prefer to have. Although our student council is motivational with the emails they send out, I think I stress too much about participating in spirit events when I could be focusing more on schoolwork.” This speaks true for many students at Notre Dame, and having past alumna speak up to bring awareness on the amount of stress on what should be something fun, shows that maybe the system needs to be updated to fit the needs of all students here at NDB.

Being the college preparatory school that Notre Dame is, pressure is expected. The school is preparing all the young women for life outside of these four walls. That is why the teachers hold us to such a high expectations they have for us. However, that is why the extracurriculars that students do in the little free time that they had. If some students like to unwind by going to a game with their fellow tigers and rooting on the girls on the court or in the cool, that is terrific. However, expecting every student to like the same things should be a thing of the past. Not every student likes going to games, just like every student doesn’t like ice cream. Our differences is what makes everyone unique, but the pressure of school spirit is shaping every girl to perform a certain way that is not necessary for teenagers who already have so much on their plate, no matter what grade.

School spirit is supposed to be an opportunity to allow students to show off how proud they are of the school they attend. However, if students are feeling too pressured to do something as simple as cheer, perhaps it is time to reevaluate how spirit points are being handled. Maybe different expectations should be set to reduce the stress off of students, and to cut the opportunity to have students targeted if they respectfully choose to decline participating.