Peter Caty
Nicole Cavallaro ’11 wanders across the Quad on a Friday, carrying her books and wearing a vibrant red sweatshirt reading ‘Fairfield’ across the front.
Cavallaro, is one of the few supporters of the spirit-influenced Fairfield Friday.
‘ ‘Being an athlete here it is important to me to help boost school spirit,’ said Cavallaro, a soccer player. ‘I wish more people would get involved with trying to help spread more of it.’
Fairfield Fridays, the trademark promotional attempt of FUSA, was implemented last year in an attempt to heighten school spirit on campus. It occurs every first Friday of each month, based on the academic calendar.
But the question that has been asked over and over by students since its inception is, is it really working?
Every Fairfield Friday, the walkways of campus should be overflowing with students decked out in Fairfield attire or at least Fairfield colors. Last Fairfield Friday the supporters were difficult to find. Because students often wear red or Fairfield attire on any given day, supporters blended in as just enthusiastic Fairfield lovers, not as part of an organized function on campus.
‘I didn’t even know we were still doing that this year. I thought that was just last year,’ Danielle Clarke ’11 said.
Evidently, school spirit is not radiating from students as was originally hoped. Friday rolls around just like any other day of the week: students stumble out of bed and the last thing on their mind is whether it’s a Fairfield Friday or not.
Building support is not a failed mission: There is spirit to be found on campus, it is just a matter of getting it out of people.
This comes down to a matter of advertisement for the day. Students are not getting dressed up because they do not know it is coming. They need some warning.
Last year, signs were put up and there were more conversations on campus about the new tradition. The hype was also aided by the occasional free T-shirt give away that always sparked interest in the event.
‘ ‘I don’t think its because students don’t have school spirit,’ Casey Mahon ’11 said. ‘ As a whole I think that people want to have school spirit.’
Give the students a chance. It’s time for a wake up call saying this is our campus and it’s time to show some support for it. Athletic games are not the only time to show the Fairfield Pride.
‘ ‘When we are at games its fun to get decked out in the Fairfield colors,’ Ream Akkeh ’11 said. ‘It would be a nice change of pace to do it on campus too.’
Shannon Cassidy ’12, wearing a Fairfield Equestrian sweatshirt and Fairfield sweatpants, said, ‘I think that people here don’t show their spirit because they think since we don’t have a huge sport to rally behind we don’t have a reason to be proud of our school.’
‘There are a bunch of us here that love to wear our colors, we are proud to support our school and wish others would join in,’ Cassidy added.
Perhaps it is high-time that students on campus realize that school spirit does not come from having a big-time sports team, but being proud of where they are at school and supporting their school and their sports anyway.
So if Fairfield Friday’s are going to be a success they need to be advertised more often.
Students need to wake up and remember that sign they read earlier in the BCC, reminding them that its time to bear those Fairfield colors.
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