September 28, 2011
Wednesday

I am writing in response to Charlene Thomas' letter about School Spirit. At this moment I feel very frustrated that her letter would be published with out checking facts. I'm thrilled that Ms. Thomas is in support of wanting more School Spirit because I have been working towards this for several years! At the same time I'm doing my best to word this response very carefully so that I do not offend anyone involved with the School as well as School athletics.

The Ketchikan High School Cheerleaders were at the game. To be truthful they met for several hours during the day of the game with Thunder Mountain Cheerleaders and worked together and shared ideas and laughs. Thus bringing me back to the topic of school spirit - during the game it was decided that the cheerleaders would rally back and forth with a well known chant of "We've Got Spirit Yes We Do, We've Got Spirit How About You" and then you point. This was done several times back and forth over the field and the amount of school spirit of participation was low as only a handful of people joined along with the chant of support.

Please understand what this looks like for the Cheerleading program and support for the school when false information is publicized. We can't wait for Friday night's game and hope to see everyone there ready to cheer on the Kings!!!

Amy Bowman
Ketchikan High School Cheerleading Coach
Ketchikan, AK