With fall sports in full swing, West Side Story caught up with the student section leaders: Michael Duffy ‘18, Austin Geasland ‘18, Connor Greer ‘18 and Nadim Teghanemt ‘18. They answered some FAQs about what to do while you are cheering on West from the stands.
September 15, 2017
WSS: How are the student section themes decided for each game?
MD: For the games we have a group message of the people that run the Twitter account so we usually just text in that, I mean it’s not very methodical. Then we know there are certain games like the City [versus West] football game is always going to be a “camo-out” or if there is a [West High] Dance Marathon [theme] we work around that.
WSS: Are there themes for away games?
CG: If it is a away game that a lot of people will go to, like City or anything in Cedar Rapids.
MD: If we know a decent amount of people will go, and it’s worth it, then there will be one.
WSS: Where can students find the themes for the games?
NT: The Twitter, @ICWestStudents.
MD: Give it a follow.
WSS: Are there any unwritten rules to the student section?
CG: No profanity in the music that we play with the speaker.
NT: You have to respect what is going on at the time. Especially when the team is playing, cheerleaders are cheering or the dance team is doing something, you shouldn’t play music.
AG: The most common one you’ll hear is seniors in the front, which I know is very controversial.
WSS: How did you think of the idea of playing music out of the speaker?
AG: At the Southeast Polk [football] game, the Southeast Polk student section was playing “Hell’s Bells” on third down. I noticed that, and a lot of my other teammates noticed that, and we thought it would be a good idea for us to have a music on third down to get the team hyped up. I thought it was a pretty good addition, it worked pretty well.
WSS: Where should each class sit in the student section?
NT: You know, seniors [in front] then juniors, sophomores and freshmen. Give or take. The most important thing is that you cheer.
WSS: Are there any new traditions you want to start this year?
MD: I mean more people to come because we’re a huge school and not that many people come. Which kind of sucks because other schools can be smaller and have a bigger student section, so not necessarily any new traditions but we just want people to be more engaged.
AG: Not necessarily any new traditions, but we want to bring the student section back. It’s kind of been lacking the last few years, I think. We just want to get people more involved in it and more passionate about it. [The student section] helps out all of the student athletes so I think it would be a good thing to work on.
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