It is always a challenge for incoming seniors to fill the shoes of those who have left Manual and are off to college. Freshman, sophomore, and juniors all look up to the senior class for leadership. It’s up to the seniors to make those adjustments and keep the school spirit abundant throughout Manual’s student body.
There are many ways that seniors can show this leadership. In past years, the more spirited seniors would show up at most sporting events, not just football, and support Manual by starting cheers, painting up, and making signs for the student athletes. The class of 2014, however, has expanded upon that tradition and taken it up a notch.
A few spirited seniors took it upon themselves to start a Twitter account named for the Crimson Crazies, which is the common nickname for the student section at Manual sporting events. The Crimson Crazies account gained over 300 followers in just over 3 weeks and is now a key source for news and updates about Manual athletics.
The seniors that started the account include Sam Ross, Cole Finke, Breck Stodghill, Matthew Cissel, Parker McGuffey, and Tyler Wojciak. The idea came when they were thinking about different ways to get everyone in the student body more supportive of Manual athletics.
“There was a Facebook page similar to the Crimson Crazies Twitter account but no one really checks Facebook anymore. The six of us figured that news and updates about Manual athletics would get out to the student body better through Twitter,” said Sam Ross (12).
The account has proven to be effective in increasing attendance at sporting events. Even freshmen who are new to the school are attending games because of the promotion of school spirit by the Crimson Crazies account.
“Being a freshman, it’s kind of hard to get involved with the school and show school spirit because I’m new here,” said Robbie Keyes (9), “but the Crimson Crazies account has been very helpful when it comes to giving me updates about what to wear to games and things like that.”
Since the account has had so much success thus far, the founders plan on passing on the responsibilities of spreading school spirit to a few worthy students in the class of 2015.
“It’s good to see the account take off as fast as it has and we want to keep it up over the years. It’s always tough for students, underclassmen especially, to find ways in which they can support their school. That’s the purpose of the Crimson Crazies; to get people involved that may not necessarily know how to,” said Cole Finke (12).
