[media-credit name=”Mary Dandan/Staff” align=”alignright” width=”271″][/media-credit]By Samantha Mendoza
We have spirit, yes we do! We have spirit and our gym needs it too!
Take a walk into the Southwestern College bookstore and the walls are filled with Jaguar gold and burgundy, but journey to the gymnasium and the most school pride you might find is an old SWC jersey hidden behind the 1960s bleachers. There’s about as much spirit at SWC as your average tax audit.
It is hard for SWC fans to cheer on their basketball team at a home game when there is not one SWC Jaguar or logo in sight. Other collegiate gyms bleed their school colors, but the only color seen in the SWC gym is the faded red score-board crookedly hanging on the dingy white walls.
SWC runners and football players are getting new turf and fields to play on. The basketball team, national champion cheerleaders and dancers deserve an upgrade as well. Floor boards in our gym are a faded light brown and outdated bleachers have been confirmed to be in violation of fire safety codes.
Then there are the wobbly names on a black board mounted on the wall. Visitors are left clueless as to what the names represent or what significance they have to SWC.
Like a deserted shack, the stale white walls are covered with old tape and the ceiling is spotted black. The only hint of life is the small barred window that lets in a slither of sunlight. Dull exit signs weakly indicate a getaway from this haunted mansion.
Air-conditioning vents dangle precariously and the overhead pipes are held up by black tape.
One would think the biggest sign in the gym would be a picture of the school’s mascot or a logo. Our gym’s most prominent sign reads “No Smoking.”
Dust on the old basketball hoops gives the impression that the team hardly uses them. But who can blame them when the hoops seem like they would fall off their hinges with even the smallest whiff from the swish of a basketball.
Inside, the gym provides a professional atmosphere when it comes to hosting luncheons and awards ceremonies, but there is still not much representation of SWC. It looks like some sort of rent-a-gym where you order a cookie cutter faculty that has no pizzazz or spirit.
Just because focus lately has been on needed reconstructing of the vulnerable buildings around campus, does not mean we should neglect our gymnasium. The gym is just as important as any other building, more important than many. It shows the level of pride that SWC students and faculty have in their school. At least it should.
All it would take to rejuvenate the gym is a little elbow grease and Jaguar pride. The dance team always performs its spring shows at the Mayan Hall and it would be just as enjoyable if could also perform in the gym where SWC gold and burgundy would fill the room. Our nationally-acclaimed cheerleaders would be even more enthusiastic to represent our school if they had a place that got them pumped to perform because of all the Jaguar mascots and logos painted on the walls.
Many SWC students and faculty have never set foot in the gymnasium. If school-spirited posters and logos were put up to decorate the gym, students may take more of an interest and show some more school pride. If we don’t, who will?