“Bring your ID and get a $1 off!”

A $1 off? Why not bring your ID and get in for free?

Every home football game, Hillsborough High School students are required to pay $1 admission with an ID. Yet, middle schoolers, are allowed to get in for free. This is where our frustration comes from.

Hillsborough High School students are a spirited group. As most know, we even have a group called the Super Fans.

Some things are beneficial to the student body themselves, like how the concession stand helps out the Junior class raise money. However, admission to the game is strictly profit for the school.

If a student has a job while attending HHS, he or she is most likely making minimum wage, or $8.44 an hour. Therefore, that is requiring students to budget 11.8% of their hourly wage just to cheer on their fellow classmates.

Principal Karen Bingert is very passionate when referring to the student body as the Raider family. Yet, we can not even attend a football game free of charge.

We think that support, school spirit, and joy is a huge part of a high schooler’s life. A football game alone satisfies each and every one of these three principles. With free admission into the stadium students can be supportive for their peers, show school spirit by attending and cheering on the game, and be filled with joy without their money being taken from them.

For adults, this makes sense. Watching their own kids or simply going for the enjoyment of the game deserves a cost of admission. However, a student is a different entity.

“I think it’s silly that we have to pay to get into a game to root on our friends when other kids get into our football team’s game for less or even free,” senior Superfan Mackenzie Kiernan said. “Football games are so important to the student body. They give us a chance to show how proud we are to be Raiders.”

If a middle school kid gets to attend a game for free, a high school student should undoubtedly be guaranteed free admission as well. Kiernan spoke out on being proud to be a Raider. Every staff member, parent, or even citizens of the town would love to know that the kids that attend the local high school are involved. While it may not affect everyone, this charge may be the reason not all students attend the games.

The students are just a fraction of the people in attendance. Would this really hurt HHS so drastically?

I think we are speaking on behalf of the student body and the local high schoolers when we come out and ask for free admission with an ID. Students should absolutely have to show proof in order to get in for free. However, just a dollar off when most students either have no income or a nominal income is not sufficient.

The issue is not just about football. All athletics should be free admission for the students of the high school. It is a huge social event where we come together as the Raider family. Attending sporting events are a huge part of being a Raider. Being a Raider shows off the great town and high school that we all attend. It is a shame that to be a Raider and to cheer on fellow Raiders comes with a cost.