From a job application essay I wrote recently about school spirit:
The most memorable experience of my Holy Cross career was accompanying the basketball teams to both NCAA Tournaments in 2007. As a member of the pep band, the NCAA flew me to Columbus, Ohio, to help cheer on the men's basketball team in the middle of last March. The trip was unbelievable. I was able to go for free to one of the biggest sporting events in the country where I had a courtside seat, and I had a chance to spend a weekend with my friends away from schoolwork.
The best part of the weekend, and a memory I am sure will stay with me for ever, happened just before the game: the band walked into the packed stadium through the team entrance, and the Holy Cross students' section, which was immediately to our right, erupted. We were thirty band geeks with no athletic talent, but the Holy Cross fans were excited enough to see our purple and white shirts that they cheered far louder than the Illinois fans did when their team scored a three pointer less than a minute later. There were four schools playing in that stadium that evening, three large state universities, each with at least 15,000 undergraduates, and little Holy Cross, boasting a total student population of just about 2,800. In addition to being the smallest school there, Holy Cross was the one from which fans had to travel the furthest, almost twice as far as our nearest competitor. The Holy Cross seating section, however, was the loudest, most energetic, and the one with the highest percentage of students. Even though the Crusaders did not win the game, the fans were well behaved, and took the loss with respect. Holy Cross showed its best that day.
The preparation for the game also showed me the greatness of the college. When I informed my professors that I would be missing several days' worth of classes, they did not worry about the notes or assignments I would miss. Knowing that most Holy Cross students are academically responsible, they were sure I would make up the work in a timely manner. That reaction did not surprise me, but their enthusiasm for the game did. Nothing sums up their excitement better than the math professor who told one of my friends, “I wish I could go. Give 'em hell.” Even alumni got in on the action; one anonymous alumni donated two buses to take the fans from Worcester to Columbus and back. It was a great weekend for the community, even though the team was unable to pull out a win.
After the game in Columbus, several band members flew down to Raleigh, North Carolina, to play for the women's game on Sunday. Holy Cross was the lowest seed in that tournament after a series of miraculous upsets in the Patriot League Tournament, and were therefore playing Duke, the highest seed, a team that had lost only one game all season. The Holy Cross women were expected to lose by a great margin, and although they did lose, the team beat the spread, losing by fewer points than expected. The flight back to Worcester the next day was amazing, because we were on a small jet with the team, all of whom had so much energy from knowing they played a good game against a hard opponent the day before.
After each game, the band members had a chance to talk with the teams and coaches as they returned to the hotels. Both men's coach Ralph Willard and women's coach Bill Gibbons talked about what great fans the band members were, and how “classy” (Gibbons's word) we were. I know that I will never forget that weekend, and I hope the team does well enough next year to give me and the new students a chance to experience the same thing I did, but I know I will support them even if they do not.