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ALTON – After witnessing the award ceremony for the student section showdown Monday afternoon, it is no surprise that Marquette Catholic High School emerged as the winner. In a competition that pits schools together across the entirety of Illinois, Marquette has the best spirit and sportsmanship with other IHSA Class 1A schools.
The IHSA was on hand Monday afternoon to honor the Explorers with the Best Spirit and Sportsmanship honor for their statewide category.
Even during the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was a breath of fresh air to see students so supportive and energetic. To enter the competition schools needed to submit a video, under three minutes in length, that showed their student section cheering and getting rowdy (with sportsmanship in mind) during games.
Marquette’s Athletic Director, Brian Hoener said, “the video does a great job showing our students enthusiasm and pride in our school, and it’ll show why we were able to receive this award today.” He was incredibly humble though and pointed out the mastermind behind the video.
Elizabeth DeCourcey, Marquette’s Communications teacher as well as Department Chair for Social Studies, was the leader for completing the school’s video. She assigned students in her class with gathering the footage and other material then had one student take lead to edit. When asked about how the achievement felt she said, “For me personally, I’m an alum and I’ve been teaching here twenty years. Our school spirit is the pride we have here, and our student section is one-of-a-kind.”
To celebrate the award the school met on the green outside of Marquette’s front doors. Mr. Hoener and Principal, Michael E. Slaughter, took the time to recognize and let the students know how much their enthusiasm meant to them. Slaughter takes immense pride in the student body as he commented on their achievement, “We’ve known for a long time we’ve got some of the best students around, year after year Marquette does a great job. We know it has not been easy on students, teachers, and administrators, so let’s have a little fun this week. Thanks for being the best fans in the state and probably in the country.”
After Principal Slaughter gave his speech, he led the student body down to the slope behind one of the school buildings to perform the roller-coaster. The students all sat down while Slaughter led them through the routine, “Be careful, you better not try this at home,” he said as they buckled in. Slaughter proceeded to wave and flail his arms around while the students followed.
Logan Dennis was a huge participant in Monday's festivities at Marquette Catholic. Dennis is also known as "Captain Marquette." It was easy to pick Dennis out of a crowd, sporting an extremely fashionable mullet and chest armor. He pitches for Marquette’s baseball team and is an avid supporter of all the school’s sports, claiming, “I’m at every game, if there’s a sport we can be rowdy at, I’m getting rowdy at it.”
It was a no-brainer to have Dennis lead multiple chants during the award ceremony. Dennis' energy getting the crowds blood pumping. While some of the freshmen were quiet, Dennis and the upperclassmen brought more than enough energy, even letting his younger brother lead the school’s last chant, the fight song.
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