You may have seen them at sports games. You’ve probably seen them at pep assemblies. Spirit team- a group of students brought together with a love of performance and school spirit taking to the middle of the gym floor and spreading that passion to the rest of the school to an eruption of cheers and excitement.
While other performance groups may limit themselves to performing for a few sports teams, Spirit performs for all teams here at Shorewood, showing up for any home game and supporting their peers. They get to these games a few hours early to go over their routine, as well as practicing during SAS and during their semester-long class. But that’s just the surface level of it all. Under the surface, Spirit Team is much more than a performance team- it’s a community of support where anyone is welcome.
“You’re comfortable around them even if you just met them,” Aniya Lanier, a team member says. “You’re welcome there and it’s fun that you can be yourself around people.” “There are genuine, amazing, very talented people on the team,” Monica Carrillo, captain, says. “Everybody on the team is just so nice and unique in their own way, which just makes the team more fun.” Carrillo joined Spirit this year after seeing how well they were doing last year and decided that she wanted to help spread the team’s kindness and positivity, as well as meet some new people, becoming captain just this year. “My favorite part is just how well we get along,” she says. “As a team, we got really close together- we do so many things together, and I just love that part.”
“Spirit is an inclusive team,” says Liz Mayor, another member of Spirit. “People with disabilities or without disabilities can join and just show off their spirit to the school.” She compares it to other performance teams, saying that Spirit is a lot more welcoming due to there not being any competition. “It’s a lot more inclusive to people who don’t have the stamina for the other teams,” she says. “Spirit team is more chill.” “Everyone’s friendly,” Lanier agrees. “It’s a nice environment to be around.” Though the team has formed a tight-knit community, they’re far from exclusive. The team is always more than willing to welcome new people into the team and grow their membership.
“We love having new people, all the time,” Carrillo says. “We will just welcome new people.”
“You can join and do whatever you want to,” Mayor says, then laughs and adds, “Well, not whatever you want to, but kind of like… just showing spirit to the school, or just having fun with the team.”
“People should definitely join,” Carrillo says. “It’s really fun.” So, if you’re looking for a fun, supportive environment where you’ll always feel welcome, consider joining Spirit. They’d love to have you.
