By Karen Trinh
Every year, FVHS buzzes with excitement and anticipation during Bell Week, which ends with the long-awaited Bell Game against Edison High School. Although Bell Week and the Bell Game builds school spirit, many problems can arise.
Before Bell Week, Senate and ASB have to spend a large amount of time after school making hundreds of posters that they use to plaster the school. ASB members are required to make 60 posters, and Senate members must create at least 40. Not only do these students use up precious time that could be used for studying or doing homework, they also spend school funds on poster supplies. Then, after being up on the walls for only five days, the posters are torn down as soon as Bell Week is over.
During Bell Week, each school day has a different dress-up theme. For example, this year, Tuesday was Twin Day, and Wednesday was Edison Nerd Day. However, although these dress days may seem fun and creative to students, they draw attention away from classroom instruction. Students get wrapped up in their own costumes or other people’s wild costumes and they wind up distracted from their schoolwork. After all, who wants to study geometry when the girl sitting in front of them is completely decked out from head to toe in nerdy Edison gear?
After Bell Week, or after the much anticipated Bell Game, students view the bell as if it somehow symbolizes that one school is better than the other. Fountain Valley and Edison students act as though the bell decides which school is superior, when in reality all the bell stands for is the result of a single football game. One football game does not indicate which school is better. One football game does not indicate anything about the character or academic excellence of either school’s students. The hype around the bell simply reinforces the false notions that students from FVHS and Edison have about each other.
Friendly competition is never a bad thing, and it’s always great to have students cheering each other on whether it be at football games, tennis matches, or volleyball games. Although Bell Week does bring school spirit and excitement to FVHS, it also brings many unnecessary distractions and problems. Fountain Valley High School is already a spirited school with many events that brings together the student body, such as the Baron Games, so there may not be a need to place so much emphasis on whether or not our school can take home an old bell after a football game.
