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Cheerleaders are often part of the expression of school spirit in the United States.Spirit rally at the Harker School in San Jose, California
School spirit is the sense of identity and community shared by members of an educational institution.[1] School administrators may wish to foster school spirit with the goal of creating a sense of community within the student population, mitigating feelings of student detachment and anonymity.[2] School spirit is often expressed by cheering on school affiliated sports teams, clubs, or individual students in extracurricular activities. It is said to correlate with higher self esteem and greater school performance.[3] The term itself seems to be most common within the United States, where it manifests as "spirit week" events, during which members of a school are encouraged to display school spirit by wearing school colors, attending athletic events, or verbally in the form of chants or songs.[4] School spirit was captured and critiqued in US pop culture through songs such as the Beach Boys's Be True to your school and films with a coming of age story such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
By country
In the United States, schools may attempt to bolster school identity by holding pep rallies, sometimes in connection with school sports events, or via JROTC, cheerleaders and marching bands/pep bands. Some schools may also hold "spirit weeks,"[4] in which students are encouraged to dress to match a certain theme to show school unity and spirit. Depending on the school, spirit weeks may occur the week of homecoming, and end with a pep rally for the school.[5] However, spirit weeks and school spirit, more broadly, are not limited to American high schools. Students within the United States are typically encouraged to have pride in their school and, in turn, themselves, from as early as pre-school.[6][7] A common critique of school spirit is that too many days of events can overburden young students' schedules.[8]
^Terzian, Sevan G. “The Elusive Goal of School Spirit in the Comprehensive High School: A Case History, 1916-1941.” The High School Journal, vol. 88, no. 1, 2004, pp. 42–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40364276. Accessed 4 Apr. 2025.
