By Irene Paul and Tina Torre
Gladnation is a club that started in 2019 with the goal of increasing school spirit towards the varsity sports teams. This year, old themes were revamped and new themes were added, which was communicated via Instagram. Recurring themes such as “White out,” “Pink Out,” “Blackout,” “USA” and “Neon” returned. Additionally, Gladnation asked students to wear blue and white for this year’s pep rally and Homecoming.
Gladnation schedules at least one themed game for every varsity sport that competes at New Hyde Park. The club’s themes have encouraged students to come out and support the hardworking varsity athletes.
Source by Anna Detke
Clockwise from top left: Seniors Emily Cohen, Maliea Saccheri, Ava Frising, Meaghan Jansen (holding Bella Oliva) and Alyssa Caroll show their Gladiator spirit in blue and white at the homecoming game.
“This year, among the officers, we had a variety of new and recurring themes that we hope to implement into athletics,” Gladnation Event Manager Ava Geigle said. “We usually take requests from the student body and assess them together to decide what would be best. We have worked to reunify the community in terms of athletic unity for over two years now…We were successfully able to re-encourage excitement and a sense of community back into athletics. We constantly hear feedback about how great our themes are, and it’s evident that our students enjoy it by their participation.”
Students were asked to share their opinions on Gladnation’s themes and what they would hope to see for the future of the club.
“Gladnation themes are a great way for students who don’t play sports to be part of the fun and come out and support our teams,” senior Matthew Zatz said. “My favorite Gladnation theme probably has to be ‘Pink Out’ because wearing pink is not just wearing a color, it’s also supporting breast cancer awareness…All of the themes give the students an opportunity to dress up and be a part of the excitement. A new theme that I think could be cool is Twin Theme. This theme would mean that you and another person would have to dress up as if you were twins.”
“My favorite Gladnation theme is ‘Pink Out.’ Some new themes I would like to see are ‘Decades Day,’ ‘Pajamas Day,’ ‘Adam Sandler Day’ and ‘Seasonal Day.’ These are some options that I would like to see replace my least favorite themes, ‘USA Day’ and ‘Country Day,’” Gladnation Event Manager Katelyn Rajpaul said.
“I would incorporate some type of cultural representation to really just not get only the athletic department involved but the whole school. My favorite [theme] would definitely be ‘Pink Out’ for its charitable cause,” Gladnation photographer Rebecca John said.
“I think that the themes would be more fun and school spirited if Gladnation added props and decorations to the home varsity games. This idea would definitely make games more fun to attend,” eighth grader Navjeet Singh said.
“Decorations would be a great idea for Gladnation to incorporate into the themed games. To raise money, Gladnation can host a fundraiser like a bake sale at the school,” eighth grader Aiden Varghese said.
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