Letterman jackets were a staple of high school sports in the past. Many of our parents used to sport their jackets proudly every Friday–every athlete from the football players to the dance team had them. Unfortunately, these jackets have become less and less common, which is especially unfortunate in a town that takes uncommon pride in “where you went to high school”. 

One can still see letterman jackets proudly worn when traveling to small towns for sports events. But, where are they at Westminster? There are a few around the school with a couple football players owning them, mainly wearing them on game days. But what about the rest of the athletes? 

The biggest factor for the football team and their jackets was the price. “The cost is really expensive if you only have a few orders. We wanted to order more but we didn’t get enough orders from the football team,” said coach Butler B’ynote’. Just barely getting enough orders to drive the price down from around $400 to $200, the price was a big factor on why many football players do not have them. But that price will not stay that way if more people order the jackets. The more the school orders, the more the price decreases, which is a great incentive to make the jackets available to all student athletes.

Why letterman jackets though? As said before, letterman jackets are a staple of athletics. Any classic small town high school sports movie shows the whole team proudly sporting these jackets in support of their school’s football team. Gaining more support for them would bring out school spirit and give pride to WCA students again, and Coach B’ynote’ agrees that “it’s a huge morale booster for the school”.

“To me my letterman jacket is something that I earned and decorated with athletic achievements I have accomplished, and it makes me feel like I am a part of an exclusive group of varsity athletes that I can represent in uniform with my teammates and other athletes.” Roger Jinkins, Senior. 

“My favorite part of a letterman jacket would be being able to represent the team through a more sleek looking piece of clothing than something like a sweatshirt.” Luke Hornburg, Sophomore.

Westminster does encourage students to play sports through the school, wanting us to be proud Westminster Wildcats. Walking into the grand entry, playing on the tvs, is a slide show containing pictures of athletes. In this slideshow it says that Westminster Christian Academy has had over one-hundred college scholarships through athletics. Westminster clearly prides itself on athletics, so students should start also. 

Letterman jackets must make a comeback if Westminster wants students to be proud Wildcats. They need to return for the honor that goes into wearing one and the memories that they hold for a high school athlete.