Going into my senior year I kept telling myself that it was going to be the best year yet. Ill be front row at all the sporting events, take easy classes, not take finals, and maybe even see a musical. So far just about all of these things have happened and it pleases me, making the first semester of my last year of high school quite enjoyable. Going into the winter season, my mind begins to wrap around the happenings at Free State during this snowy time of year. I think of basketball, praying that there isn’t another freak streak. I think of Raise the Roof, an annual ritual that sits at the top of the list of Free State traditions. It makes me think of guys swimming, hoping they can accomplish what the girls did last spring. I even think of wrestling. Those big dudes in the tight onezies. Oh man. Enough said. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Why is this guy only talking about sports? High school is more than sports!” Um, sorry, but no its not. The student body revolves around the athletics at their school and everyone knows it. There is no arguing that the attendance of a football game is higher than a theatre production. Trust me, I’ve been to both. Okay so back to the winter sports stuff. Word has it that Raise the Roof isn’t happening this year. Please refer to what I said earlier, “Raise the Roof, an annual ritual that sits at the top of the list of Free State traditions.” When I heard about the cancellation of one of the biggest traditions at my school, I lost it. I immediately began to question the motives of the new student council teacher. I started to ask around and to my utter disbelief, was told that the whole student council class argued for Raise the Roof and the teacher still rejected it. According to the stu-co teacher, Free State is too wrapped up in sports. And since Raise the Roof is sports based, it’d be best if we banned one of the schools longest running traditions. Do you think Lew Perkins (athletic director at KU) is going to end Late Night anytime soon? Absolutely not! He would never do such a thing because he knows the truth: KU students love athletics. The stu-co teacher is right though, we are wrapped up in our sports teams. But Raise the Roof was more than just a basketball scrimmage, its a way for the student body to get involved. A lot of people don’t know this, but Raise the Roof doesn’t mean “party time! RAISE THE ROOF (palms moving up and down towards the ceiling)”. It stands for putting a roof over somebody’s head. All the donations and proceeds of that one night go to Habitat for Humanity to help them build a house for a less fortunate person. With the money from Raise the Roof, Habitat for Humanity will literally raise a roof.

We have been a school for 13 years now, far younger than our friends across town at LHS. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we are still young, with a lot of time ahead of us as a school. We should be continuing our traditions, not ending them. LHS is packed full of tradition and we can’t compete with them in that category. We can, although compete with them on the athletic playing field… but that’s another story. So lets start making tradition and keeping it. And lets bring back Raise the Roof. It’s a time where the student body can get together and be excited about the school they go to. It’s a big pep rally for a good cause. What’s so wrong with that?