Dear Editor,

Last spring, as I’m sure you know by now, the MSHS Football Team won state for the first time in like 30 years. That’s cool! Good for them. That’s not the problem.

The thing that bugs me is not that the football team won, which is not inherently bad.

What doesn’t sit quite right with me is the fact that I was called out of class one day during the week after their win. But it wasn’t just me. Everyone who was at school that day was called out of class and like ants on parade, we were marched down the field so that the footbal team could do a show-off victory lap. The day’s schedule was altered for this, by the way.

Honestly, it was sort of fun to watch. There were people running around, fireworks, and loud music. Those things usually make for a pretty fun event. But I couldn’t help thinking about how I left an art class, something that I really enjoy and something that I feel is important, to come celebrate a win in a competition that I didn’t even know had happened. I didn’t really care that they won. Does that make me sound like a bad guy? Maybe. But isn’t winning what sports teams are supposed to do?

I just couldnt help feeling indignant at the blatant favoritism of sports over things like art, band, and theater, all of which are things that are equally fulfilling and deserve more recognition and attention than they get. As I watch the guys on ladders put up the new 2021 State Champs Football poster in the commons, I feel a melancholy sort of neglect as I walk by the theater trophy case, 30 feet away, and see broken trophies, burnt out lights, and something about police literally painted on the glass. I bet some people don’t even know that there is a theater trophy case.

Sincerely, Asher Evans (11)