COLUMN: 30 hours of stereotypes
To start, I need to preface this column with a little introduction. In my mind there are two general stereotypes that seem to continue in school regardless of what age level you are at: cheerleaders and the pep band. Enough said? There is a good chance that whatever thoughts pop into your mind when you see these two words are probably similar to what most of the student body thinks.
I had the pleasure of riding on a bus with the cheerleaders and Aggiettes (which will be referred to as spirit squad from now on) for 15 hours to the Big West tournament this march. Due to a malfunction of my alarm clock, I missed the spirit squad bus for the trip home and wound up hitching a ride with the pep band. Before I attempt to dispel stereotypes I would like to put a plug in for H.A.S.S. Week, which is this week. There are many great events taking place that range from plays to kickball, with the dean on the Quad on Thursday at 10 a.m. (all welcome). Please take a chance to get involved. (The A-Station will tell you all you need to know.)
I will start with the spirit squad. There is probably nothing closer to a celebrity on our campus except some of the athletes. We have all seen them at the games and I would bet all of us have wondered what type of people they really are. Are they stuck up? Can they string sentences together and have them make sense? Are they nice? No and yes. I found that almost all of the members of the spirit squad were approachable, smart and very nice. I must be remiss with all my findings, because there were a couple that seemed to fit the aforementioned stereotype perfectly, but only one or two. Unfortunately, due to word restrictions I cannot go any deeper. But overall, these fellow peers of ours were nothing short of amazing as a whole and are real people lwho sacrifice greatly to help enrich our college experience.
I, unfortunately, don’t have much room to talk about the 15 hours I spent with the pep band. I was thoroughly impressed with the band members. They were very friendly, quite intelligent and extremely gifted. Our university should be grateful for these students who put in ridiculous hours and hard work. If I had to choose whom I would spend the next 15-hour bus trip with I would choose….
Brandon Halford is the HASS senator for ASUSU. Comments can be sent to broha@cc.usu.edu.