After practically every morning announcement, a member of the administration or staff comes on the intercom to talk about the latest sports scores and rankings. While it certainly is important for students to be well-rounded and recognized for their God-given talents in extracurricular activities, it seems as if the education aspects and even extracurriculars are pushed to the side.
Even during the quarterly awards assemblies sports players are recognized, shining the spotlight away from the students that put many hours of hard work into their grades and making them seem as if they are the unsung heroes of JC, even though they get better grades then some players who are just barely passing so they can play their choice sport(s). Without the dedicated academic students, JC wouldn’t have the great academic reputation that it currently does, yet we don’t seem to appreciate them enough.
Also, the other activities, such as art, music, and writing, are almost ignored. When there is a big Friday night sports game, “come out and support your boys/girls team tonight” is repeated throughout the hallways and announcements, but when any other activity is after school, it is never mentioned.
Instead, administration and faculty should make sure that they are promoting all of JC’s programs equally by making announcements, handing out flyers, and keeping every activity in its place during assemblies by only talking about one at a time.
As an interesting way for this support to increase, the school could sponsor a little contest where the person who goes to the most events in a quarter wins a $10 gift card. They could also have the teachers offer extra credit to go support a certain event, although that should be a last resort considering some students would only go to help boost their grade.
Even though not every student is athletically inclined, the only athletics everybody should be concerned with is their mandatory physical education class. Having been on two JC sports teams in the past, it was nice to always be in the loop when it came to the latest games and such, but after that period was over I then noticed how biased it can really be.
To change that, the school needs to focus on getting students excited about the art program, music program, clubs, and electives that are not what they would typically choose to engage in. Not only will this broaden their horizons, but also show other students that their fellow peers encourage their interests.
The bottom line is that the JC student body is made up of more than just athletes, and should be recognized as such since we are a school first.
Lauren Fabiszak is an In-Depth Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.