“Who rocks the boat? I said the Spartans rock the boat.”

Senior Isabel Jung led a cheer called “Rock the Boat” near the end of the first home varsity football game in an attempt to hype up the student section of the crowd.

“The first time I was kind of solo, which was a little embarrassing, but the second time around people were cheering,” Jung said. 

Jung is a member of Spartan Spirit Squad, a group open to students of all grade levels who want to raise spirit and create a stronger community at school. An extension of this group, Down to the River Squad, is a smaller group of only seniors recommended by teachers and selected by sponsors Lauren Carranza and Justin Weiner.

This year is unique because only the Senior Class has had a full, normal year at Glenbrook North. Spartan Spirit and Down to the River Squad are opportunities to get everyone in the community involved and show the underclassmen what it means to be a Spartan, Weiner said. 

Both groups share the same goal of bringing more spirit to the school by decking out in green and gold for spirit days, participating in assemblies and supporting sports teams and other extracurriculars. Down to the River members have a role on the floor during school assemblies and Spartan Spirit members cheer from the bleachers to keep the crowd engaged.

According to Carranza, both groups plan to work with the Student Association Executive Board to arrange events and spirit days to keep spirit up throughout the year.

According to Abby Burnham, member of the Down to the River Squad, a lot of people have been dressing up for spirit days. 

“I think if we continue to dress up and get excited for these things then everyone will start to feed off of that,” Burnham said.

Down to the River Squad made their first appearance this year at Freshman Orientation on Aug. 17. During the assembly at the end of the day, they performed the Down to the River chant and introduced themselves to the freshmen.

At football games, members from both groups run onto the track with flags spelling out “GBN” after GBN scores. 

According to Sam Brafford, member of the Down to the River Squad, he was nervous about running into cheerleaders or dropping the flag on his first time because it was really heavy.

“I didn’t know that until I picked it up and I was like ‘Oh jeez this is really heavy,’ but it was fun running in front of everyone while they were cheering,” Brafford said. 

According to Carranza, both groups plan on using one Instagram account to keep the student body and parents updated on future events. 

Members from both groups plan on attending many school events in order to support not only sports teams, but extracurriculars such as theater performances and concerts, Carranza said.

According to Jung, spirit brings Spartans together and helps with the nervousness of being back at school. Many members including herself make trips to Party City before spirit days to get different clothes and props.

“It’s becoming this huge thing,” said Jung. “You can’t even go to Party City anymore because all the green and gold things are sold out.”