Tradition; (noun) a set of customs and usage transmitted from one generation to another and viewed as a coherent of precedents influencing the present.

University Academy Charter High School has been around for just five years, but does that mean that we shouldn’t have any school traditions? Most high schools have traditions like spirit week or even field days, but our school has yet to form any of our own.

Acting Dean John Marquet said that he believes that in order to form school traditions, we as staff and students must be actively engaged in researching what traditions we can begin.

“It will be a collective effort,” Marquet said.

History teacher Eilleen Cuellar said, “I would like to see pep rallies and sports as a school tradition because they are fun. In my college, we had a tradition someone would get caught [performing good deeds] and they’d get an award for it. We should do that here.”

Having no school tradition affects students, because it doesn’t give them anything to look back on later in life.

“[It] affects me because it doesn’t give [us] a chance to get to know each other and our characters,” freshmen Shanice Jessup said.

“Having no school traditions affects me because it doesn’t let teachers and students get involved and participate in school activities,” junior Peju Aligu-Aturu said.

Having pep-rallies, spirit week, senior week and college days would be good school traditions to have.

“It’s never too late to start on school traditions,” Marquet said. “It’s important to have them because it gives the staff and students a sense of spirit and to be apart of something positive.”

Geometry teacher Edwin Howard said that he believes that we should be known for our good scholars and athletes. He believes that tradition should reflect our community.

On the other hand, Algebra teacher Jacqueline William says that we should have traditions based on the senior classes, because last year the seniors didn’t have an opportunity to get involved in things that they wanted. Examples include having senior trips and having weeks where the school would have sessions on how to apply for college the right way. She also believes that teachers should play a big part of getting involved as well, by giving them advice on how to go about their own independence

So if we all, as a school, just pull together as one, maybe we can create a tradition (for centuries to come)?