By Caroline Cope

The Bellbrook Eagles Football team has kicked off their season, and the student section couldn’t be more excited.

Zoe Howard, a senior at BHS, was chosen to be one of the student section leaders. Howard tries to lead by example and bring on the school spirit at the football games.

“I feel that some people don’t want to do something nobody else is doing,” Howard said. “So I always try to dress the themes and do the chants. I also just encourage everyone else to participate, too.”

Howard’s favorite theme is neon because it looks fun and vibrant from afar. She is especially excited for the two new themes this year: Heroes and Villains and Men in Black.

“For Heroes and Villains, I plan on wearing a costume and going all out,” Howard said. “For Men in Black, my friend and I are wearing super big blazers and all black.”

Howard has done an excellent job hyping up the student section and encouraging everyone to participate in cheering for the Bellbrook Eagles. However, she thinks that the student section could kick it up a notch with their spirit.

“Everyone is doing a really good job of dressing the themes,” Howard said. “The student section does well, but we could always be more spirited.”

The student section’s spirit is captured in a photo at every game. Dave Hann, the Bellbrook High School Principal, takes a picture of the student section, dubbed “The Nest,” at almost every football game. These wide-angle lens pictures showcase the student involvement in cheering on the Bellbrook Eagles and their creative spirit-wear according to the weekly theme. According to Hann, this tradition has been going on for around ten years, since before he became the principal at BHS.

Hann has seen a multitude of different themes over his seven years as the Bellbrook High School principal, but he doesn’t always dress the theme. Instead of rocking specific spirit-wear for the theme each week, Hann is superstitious about what he wears to the Friday night games.

“Since we’ve been winning a lot, with me wearing certain things, I just stick to it,” Hann said.

Hann enjoys all of the themes, but his favorites are USA and Tropical, which have been core student section themes for many years. Now, he primarily just sticks to his tried and true gameday outfits–normally just Bellbrook merchandise.

“I used to dress up for most of them, but I’m also a creature of habit,” Hann said.