Eva Ludwig
This editorial represents the opinions of 14 out of 14 Outlook editors.
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Cheering on the Aragon football team becomes incredibly difficult when one finds oneself squished amongst 50 other students.
The problem is simple: Aragon needs more bleachers. There is rarely enough room at football games to house the Aragon students, staff members and family that want to support their school. While crowd minimization has been attempted in years past, large crowds and student attendance should not be limited.
Additional bleachers are not just a fix to student complaints. With increased seat availability comes increased attendance and a boost to the “vibrant community” Aragon prides itself on. A football game’s participation and energy comes from spectator presence in the bleachers. When students move to the track when the bleachers are full, they are separated from their peers and sent behind the scoreboard with an obstructed view of the game.
“I’ve been standing on the track since freshman year,” said senior Jordan Hosner. “There’s not enough bleacher space for anyone … We do have spirit, but because of the lack of space, we can’t [show] as much spirit as we have.”
One of the biggest missed opportunities from our limited bleacher space is the loss of a pep band, a tradition that brings energy and spirit to games.
“[There were] pep bands and some cheerleaders I saw at San Mateo,” said senior Charlotte Graham. “They were integrated into the bleachers, and that really hyped up the student section.”
In the past, the pep band was placed behind the end zone — isolated and out of view. The only thing holding the band back from gaining more visibility was the bleachers’ capacity.
“We were told, ‘no, you can’t go on the bleachers unless you shrink the band down,’” said band director Kevin Gallagher. “And that was one thing I did not want to do, because I wanted to draw inclusivity to the pep band program, instead of exclusivity.”
In the end, Aragon’s pep band eventually faded away, taking with it an opportunity for members of different bands to interact with one another. Bringing back the pep band would mean not only louder cheers and more energy at games, but also a stronger sense of community between hundreds of student musicians.
The process for approval may seem long — projects must be agreed upon by the school’s principal, interest holders and the district, and only then are they put on a list of priorities by the Board of Trustees. This is not, however, an impossible task.
Temporary bleachers provide for a cost-effective, flexible solution that fixes issues of seating and space whilst also avoiding the cons that come with installing a permanent set of bleachers. Before a football game begins, the temporary bleachers can be set up and wheeled over for students and families to sit on, which provides for a larger possible number of attendees. Compared to standing at the end of the track, temporary bleachers located similarly to the permanent ones allow for onlookers to get the same view of the game itself. Instead of paying for the extensive construction of permanent bleachers, temporary bleachers tend to cost approximately $30,000, a much smaller bill than the millions spent on refurbishing the baseball field, and can be taken down and stored when that space is needed again.
More than anything, temporary bleachers help to solve a problem brought up year after year. Devoting money to the purchase of temporary bleachers is a worthwhile investment for the sake of students and the Aragon community’s school spirit as a whole.
