Welcome to The Navy

Football is America’s sport. Whether it’s played at the professional, college, or high school level, on gameday the stands will be packed with crazed fans cheering on their teams. But as for Liberty North High School, that wasn’t always the case. In the past the student section had been known for lacking in school spirit. Students and fans were not regularly attending the games because there was not much to cheer for on the field. But there has been a huge culture change at Liberty North High School in the past year.

During his off season, Senior Nate Chester spent a great deal of time organizing and preparing the student section for upcoming games and events. Many would say Chester and his crew are what influenced the culture change at Liberty North. There have been just a few specific changes that the new student section leaders changed that allowed the Liberty North Student Sections to be regarded as “one of the best in the state”.

“We began to market to different people, we really tried to get everyone to come rather than just focusing on one group, just everybody coming and having a good time,” Chester said.

But the student section leaders were puzzled at how to market to everyone in a school that is divided between upperclassmen and underclassmen. But after considering all of the possible options, they came up with an answer.

“We have [class] reps in each grade now, we have responsible people who are going to be loud at each game that the senior reps can communicate with to make sure their grades are participating in the events,” Senior Brock Neimer said.

But with three straight seasons of mediocre football teams, it was hard for the student section leaders to get people to want to go to the games. In order to get the students to the games they needed to get the students to realize the influence they had on the players.

“The student section is so supportive; I feel like they give us energy, if we were to score or something and they were not there, then it would just be “okay”. They motivate us,” Senior Keshawn Turner said.

The energy and motivation brought by the Liberty North Student Section has helped turn their 4-6 mediocre football team into an 11-0 football powerhouse. Although there is a tremendous amount of work that goes into being a successful football team, there is no doubt the energy has fueled some of the team’s victories.

“I feel like it throws the other team off their game, hearing them get crazy and I feel like we feed off of their energy,” Senior Warren Bennet III said.

The culture change at Liberty North has not only impacted the success of the school’s athletics, but it also means a substantial amount to the student section leaders who are leaving their legacy. A group of five boys and one teacher has turned the school known for lacking in pride, into something special that the students will remember for the rest of their lives.

“It’s my senior year, my last year of high school. High school is all about having pride and showing up to the events. Being student section leader and seeing all the people show up means a lot to me,” Senior Caden Wilson said.