When Quentin Nicholson first experienced a football game as a high school student, he immediately noticed how different it felt. No longer just a casual Lower School outing, the game carried a new level of energy and connection. Surrounded by classmates and friends competing on the field, he realized how personal school spirit could be: an atmosphere he now helps lead as one of this year’s Spirit Captains.

From choosing football game themes to decorating for homecoming to leading chants in the student section, this year’s five connoisseurs of spirit, seniors Lee Monistere, Finnian Owsley, Montgomery Ferguson, Morgan Raizner and Quentin Nicholson, are making sure school spirit stays strong.

For the captains, the job is more than just yelling into a megaphone — it is about balancing tradition with creativity, managing expectations from hundreds of students and making sure every game feels like a celebration and party.

“The whole premise of it is to just be fun and goofy,” Raizner said. “I don’t have to be stoic and be quiet and focused all the time; I can make some jokes and laugh and smile.”

Although the job brings plenty of fun, Monistere has quickly learned the main struggle of being a leader: making everyone happy.

“You can never please everybody because you’re a spirit captain in your club or your organization,” Monistere said. “You get a lot of complaints about the themes, but my goal is to try to minimize those complaints.”

The captains’ effort shows up in the details. The captains work to think of ways to reflect what the students want, such as sending out polls to the senior classmates for football themes.

Behind the scenes, themes are the product of hours of collaboration. In order to decide on all the themes for the school year, the captains met at Owsley’s house to discuss their ideas.

“We just brainstormed and mind dumped onto a Google Doc,” Nicholson said.

But being a spirit captain is about more than just choosing the themes. For Ferguson, spirit should be about consistency and discovering new endeavors. 

“We’re trying to do pep rallies that involve all the grades and we’re not just focusing on seniors, so everybody feels like they’re included,” she said.

 The captains will be organizing pep rallies throughout the whole year, not just football season. They plan to assign themes for every game and every week. 

“We want to ensure that a good amount of people show up to lacrosse, baseball, soccer and all the other sports,” Ferguson said.

For many of the captains, being involved with the School’s spirit club has been a long time goal.

“I have wanted to be spirit captain since I was a freshman,” Ferguson said. “I was on the field hockey team my freshman year and two of the seniors I played with were spirit captains and I really looked up to them.”

Nicholson also admired seniors during his freshman year. He met Colin Gregory through cross country.

“He was one of the first people I met who embraced leadership,” Nicholson said.

The chance to be a role model also motivated Nicholson to apply.

“My goal is to be a good, shining light. I think to be a good person is to inspire people and make people happy and be there for them when they’re not feeling it.

Raizner has also long dreamed of the role.  

“It was always my dream to be spirit captain,” she said. “I’m a cheerleader, so I love football games and athletics,” Raizner said.“And that’s always been one of my favorite non-academic St. John’s things.”

For Monistere, spirit is about making friends and embracing her creative side for making posters and Instagram posts.

“I love going to the games, and I love supporting my friends,” Monistere said. “I love art and I love drawing, so I wanted to help with the designs and the graphics.”

The captains’ spirit is not just limited to sports games. Spirit Captains also help with events that matter to the community. Prior to the first home football game, the captains passed out pins honoring Lower Schoolers Margaret Bellows and Ellen Getten, students who tragically passed away in the flooding at Camp Mystic.

“The aunt of one of the girls emailed us and requested our help with that,” Raizner said.”Having the opportunity and platform which we can use to spread awareness is really an amazing part of the job.”

Nicholson feels like this contribution represents the true essence of being a St. John’s student.  

“This is the perfect thing that Spirit Club gets to do. Our school community is meant to come together and support one another,” he said. “It is a sad example, but it is beautiful at the same time.”