Over the years, the level of school spirit at Dudley has declined mostly due to the implementation of SMOD; it seems that when our outer shell was stripped, our unique personalities and school spirit was too.

    There has been many years when only about 50 percent of the students actually participated in spirit week. Some students say SMOD is a barrier, others disagree. 

    Many students and staff members were asked questions about how to motivate students to have more school spirit.

    “Students need more activities. Some students say this school can be very dull. DHS has always been a school of pride but few people participate and claim [they attend] Dudley,” said senior Ebony White.

    There are various reasons our school lacks school spirit; maybe the generation of students that matriculate into this institution simply does not know or care about the rich tradition of spirit and pride that is the foundation on which this school was built. Senior, Nic Clark agreed and stated that some individuals simply do not care if students are motivated or not.

    Clark was also asked if he thought DHS would regain that “ole’ Dudley spirit?”

    “Dudley will always be the same,” Clark responded.

    Various students were asked, if they thought it was a necessity to have school spirit and the answer was a clear “yes.”

Senior, Ada Blackmon stated that having school spirit helps students academically by motivating them to do their best.

    Jasmine Miller, SGA Vice President, stated that without school spirit a school can become dull, boring and the academic success of a student can and will drop.