As the school year begins, so do Friday night lights. The Oswego High School’s student section, Orange Crew, is preparing to bring on the school spirit at OH athletic events for the 2023-2024 school year.
Not only does Orange Crew choose football themes, they also spread game hype, find sponsors, and lead the students to be involved.
This year, there are four OH senior Orange Crew leaders: Dominic Stringham, Emma Trottier, Gilly Young, and Nick Tickle. They were selected at the end of their junior year by the previous leaders, with the help of the teacher sponsor, Kevin Wilson.
Wilson explained the process of choosing these leaders. “A conversation is had with the previous years leaders and some names are thrown around. From there the leaders are chosen,” Wilson said. “We try to highlight seniors who are involved in their junior year and who show commitment going to games, along with school spirit.”
One of the main goals the student section has is getting more students involved. They use their social media platform to get crowds at other sporting events. Tickle emphasizes their social media usage with this position.
“Our main way of informing students to be involved is our instagram which is @orangecrew2024. We post all our stuff on there including the themes, when games are, and other activities,” Tickle said.
Besides what everyone sees at the games and on social media, there is a lot more that goes into forming this student section and being an Orange Crew Leader.
“They don’t realize that at home games, we have to go early to set up. We also have to create merchandise and a lot of other things that people don’t see,” Tickle said. “When something happens in the student section where someone throws something or something is said, we are the first ones to talk to and take responsibility for it.”
Stringham also highlighted other responsibilities they take on.
“Everything has to be prepared and presented to the principal to be approved,” Stringham says. “And no matter who does what, whatever happens in Orange Crew falls onto the leaders since we are in charge of everyone.”
Leading the entire school, especially at football games, has its ups and downs. There are many challenges the leaders face throughout the school year. Trottier states how they’ve planned to overcome their challenges.
“Of course there will be someone who is not happy with our decisions, whether it’s the themes or chants we are doing, but you just have to push through it and not let them influence the decisions,” Trottier said.
At the end of the day, the biggest commonality is all the students at OHS want to have a fun and enjoyable student section. Because of this, the Orange Crew leaders have set goals in order to make the best student section.
“My main goal is to make sure everyone is having a good time, keeping the energy up, and teaching underclassmen about school spirit so the years to come can be even better,” Stringham said.
Having an interactive student section gives the leaders more flexibility and excitement going through the season. Young emphasizes how she enjoys her experience leading the student section.
“My favorite thing is probably having the aux and getting everyone super hype. Also, the amount of people that show and support the themes and everything is always good,” Young said.
The Orange Crew leaders are excited for all that is to come for the 2023-2024 school year.
“Don’t forget to cheer and be loud!” Trottier said, encouraging OH students to participate.
I definitely did not know the level of responsibility the OC leaders have. What a great opportunity for leadership experience that really makes a difference to our teams!