by Devin Cornelius ’12

Olney, once a rural community known for its longstanding farming tradition, has rapidly transformed into a bustling suburban town of over 30,000 people. Consequently, Sherwood’s population has grown substantially over the past 20 years as well. During the same time, teens have become more technologically dependent, contributing to lives filled with distractions. Sherwood’s teachers, parents and students had long prided themselves on being members of a tight-knit community that revolved around school events. But such a sentiment may be a thing of the past.A school-wide survey revealed that only 20 percent of students felt very strongly that Sherwood has a sense of community. The survey also found that although two-thirds of students felt well informed of all upcoming school events, 57 percent of students believed that it is not important to attend those events.Even some of Sherwood’s most prized and widely recognized school-sponsored events such as Rock ‘n’ Roll, lately seem to be drawing audiences consisting more of parents and other adults than students. “In the early years [Rock ‘n’ Roll’s audience] Groups and clubs, those traditionally most spirited and involved in Sherwood events, are also changing. “When I went to high school, cheerleading was involved in many facets of school, not just in being at the game. School spirit needs to be five days a week, not just Friday night at the game. When I was involved in cheerleading, we were involved in a lot more sports than they go to now. We did different things for different sports to try to highlight the events going on,” said Coursen, who is a former cheerleading coach at Sherwood.

Reiff believes that a growing apathy among students about school events is due in part to students’ growing use of technology which has altered traditionally defined friendships and could affect student motivation to support one another. “Everyone is plugged in to an iPod or a cell phone rather than have a conversation,” said Reiff. “When you lose that connection, it spreads to other things. The students are not as connected to each other because there are so many other things to distract [them].”

Like Rock ‘n’ Roll, sporting events do not garner the same enthusiasm as they once did, as evidenced from the number of fans at games. “We have outstanding athletic teams here and when I look at the stands, I see parents, I see a lot of community members, I do not see a lot of kids,” said math teacher and Sherwood graduate Kaye Coursen. In past years, school events were more important and popular to students. Coursen believes that parents who were active in their own high schools enjoy being involved in their children’s and by attending multiple events, they are reliving their high school experience even as their own teenage sons and daughters might not share in that experience.

While fewer students are attending big-time school events, perhaps that is because there is an increase in the number of other less prominent events. “With such busy schedules, students may not have time to attend them all. And I think as the school has grown, activities have grown. You can’t go to everything all the time. So it might have looked like 20 or 30 years ago that kids had more spirit, but there was probably only two or three events,” said staff development coordinator and SGA sponsor Catina Wist. “So they didn’t have to manage their time as much as students have to now. People can pick and choose what they’re interested in, and that’s not to say that people aren’t spirited.”

Wist points to last month’s science fair and the recent Mr. Sherwood Contest of examples of when students turned out for a school event. While such events were successful, events like the SGA sponsored Glow party and last year’s cancelled Winter Formal are cases of students’ dearth of enthusiasm.