Last week was a time when students united and had a chance to show their MV pride. Students tried their hardest to support their class through events like the food drive and dress up days, and for the rally on Friday, students decked out in their class color for the ultimate display of school spirit.

Now what?

Once Homecoming week draws to a close, class spirit is all but gone. There is no longer a clutter of notifications on Homecoming Facebook groups. There is no longer promotion for the next football game. There is no longer any talk of streaks, either starting, continuing or ending them.

During Homecoming week, MVHS bursted with pride, but afterward, it deflated back down to nothing. The reason isn’t lack of energy, just lack of motivation.

In an effort to keep class spirits high throughout the year, MVHS should incorporate a year-long competition. Multiple studies have shown that competition is one of the best motivators. And in an ultra-competitive environment like MVHS, a competition will definitely motivate students. Rather than having scattered competitions, like an occasional rally or spirit week, all of these tiny events should culminate in something larger. For instance, each rally, dress-up day or food drive could be given a point value and the class with the most points at the end of the year would be named the overall winner.

A few events could even be added to fuel the competitive nature of MVHS. For example, attendance at school functions like dances or sporting events could result in points as well, ultimately not just raising spirit, but also funds for the school — a win-win situation. To not detract from rallies and Homecoming, these other events would be considered less significant.

A multitude of events culminating in an ultimate goal would be a perfect way to encourage class participation. Rather than only wearing their respective class T-shirt once or changing their Facebook profile picture for just a week, students would be encouraged to whip out their class gear, display their class pride and cheer all year long for a shot at  a class-wide grand prize.

The system for something like this could be very similar to the scoring system instituted at rallies. Each event, like rally games or the 15-second cheer, would be judged to determine the ultimate champion.

If used on a larger scale, class spirit wouldn’t just exist for 30 minutes at a rally, but throughout the entire school year.