Courtney Carpinello ’15, Amanda Paolino ’15: By rewarding random acts of kindness with school shield pins, senior leadership group Esse Quam Videri (EQV) has successfully encouraged students and faculty members to live the stripes. Moreover, honoring members of the community who are a daily embodiment of Episcopal values has motivated others to follow in their footsteps. However, as successful as the shield pin initiative has become, EQV’s impact can be most clearly seen during athletic contests, as its new house system has increased both game attendance and school spirit.
Over the past several months, EQV has launched a new initiative in an attempt to create a broader sense of school spirit and a more optimistic school environment. Specifically, EQV has attempted to spread positivity, unity, and school pride through such new measures as the new house system and awarding shield pins.
The effect of EQV’s initiative can clearly be seen throughout the school community on a daily basis. Cheryl McLauchlan, sophomore Form Dean and math teacher, commented, “School is very different this year than last year. Everyone seems happier.” She even believes fewer demerits have been given this year because everyone is in a better mood.
Adding onto this sense of increased school spirit is EQV’s initiative to boost student attendance at school events, thereby fostering a sense of camaraderie and spirit. As each grade unites within a respective house, students compete with one another to win the most points for their houses. Students not only unite as a class in this competition, but also as an entire upper school, as they come out together to support their friends and athletes.
Kaitlyn DiMarco ’13, captain of the varsity girls soccer team, expressed her gratitude for EQV, stating, “I love the ideas they’ve been promoting this year. People actually come to our games now, and it feels really nice to be supported.”
Caroline Giles ’13, captain of the varsity girls cross-country team, agreed, “The game of the week was a really good idea. It got a lot more people going to watch games and supporting the athletes.”
EQV’s initiative to increase school spirit may have contributed to the success of some of our sport’s teams this year. This success has created a positively ambitious attitude, which has now spread to every aspect of school life.
EQV member and varsity soccer captain, Kristen Hinckley ’13 said, “We are working really hard to promote school spirit and get people to start appreciating the school. Last year it was common to hear people insulting our own school and we want to fix that.”
EQV is hoping to continue promoting this positive attitude going into the winter season.
Michael Niu ’13, captain of boys’ varsity swimming, commented, “EQV did a great job in the fall so hopefully they will keep that going in the winter. It would be great to have people at our swim meets.”
Through their new house system, EQV has managed to simultaneously increase class and school pride, increasing support for fall sports teams across the board and leading to their increased success. It is extremely difficult to follow through on such a large-scale idea and sustain it for the entire fall season, but EQV has managed to do just that. We encourage EQV to continue revitalizing school pride and urge students and faculty to follow EQV’s lead this winter. In its efforts to foster an enthusiastic spirit within the school, EQV has guided the school in making a strong community even stronger.