As it is currently a busy time for upper school students, it becomes difficult to get out and support the sports teams. However, this year, Carson Davis-Tinnell ’19 and Jay Handwerk ’18 have created a club called “Super Fan” that will allow students to be proactive and find ways in which they can support WFS athletics.

Super Fan’s purpose is to support the sport teams by decorating or making signs to promote school spirit and sending out a school message about important games to get students to attend. “We want to use the club to provide structure for the community so that they can become more aware of the each team’s events and to generally be more supportive of the sports teams throughout the school year,” explained Davis-Tinnell.

    Last year there was a similar club in place called ‘Got Spirit?’ which did not fully live up to its leaders’ aspirations. “A large part of why the club ‘Got Spirit?’ was unsuccessful last year was due to a lack of communication about our purpose. As a result, we lacked motivated members and support. However, due to our current partnership with Spirit Committee, Super Fan will be able to reach out to a similar demographic that would most likely be interested in joining us to continue to spread school spirit after the main activities of Spirit Committee have ended,” reflected former clerk of ‘Got Spirit?’ Handwerk. Super Fan hopes to redirect the potential of ‘Got Spirit?’ and channel the community’s school spirit toward supporting WFS athletics throughout the year.

    “I think the difficulty is that the Homecoming events become so big and complicated that Homecoming ends up seeming like the most important source of support for the teams. I think Super Fan will change this mentality and motivate people to support the teams over the course of the whole year,” added Spirit Committee advisor, Gregg Miller. Ultimately, the intentions behind the new club Super Fan show signs of being well-founded and beneficial to the community as a whole.

Some have questioned why the clerks do not just implement this as another feature of Spirit Committee, but the clerks of both clubs agree that it is important to remain true to each of their purposes. “Spirit Committee and Super Fan appeal to different aspects of school spirit – Spirit Committee organizes all that is going on with Homecoming and spirit week, etc. while Super Fan will emphasize the importance of supporting the sports teams throughout the year,” noted Davis-Tinnell. Therefore, Super Fan has not officially met as a club yet since the focus is on Homecoming activities through Spirit Committee, so once Homecoming is over they will become more active.

    On account of Super Fan’s current collaboration with Spirit Committee, the club has yet to launch. However, after Homecoming, Super Fan will meet every Day 2 at lunch in the Library. Clerks Davis-Tinnell and Handwerk look forward to seeing those who would like to support the sports teams and show their school spirit!