While UVU’s student body hasn’t always held the best reputation for pride in athletics, school spirit is on the rise.
Walking through the halls on a day-to-day basis, students can easily recognize other classmates wearing BYU or University of Utah apparel, specifically sports tees or sweatshirts. That’s where the problem of pride issues resides, instead of wearing green on Wolverine Wednesday, there’s red and navy throughout campus.
“BYU has been a university for a lot longer. Students need to give UVU the chance it deserves instead of being a transfer school,” said Zach Trujillo, president of The Mighty Athletic Wolverine League. “If people support our athletics, they would see the joy it brings being involved.”
Though BYU and the U have built academic and sports reputations, UVU is establishing its own identity, so students can take pride in the school’s growing reputation through athletics programs.
As the MAWL president during the 2014 spring semester, Trujillo is taking it upon himself to inspire students to increase involvement on campus, specifically through sports support.
“Attendance could be better,” Trujillo said. “Students don’t know about the games and getting information to students and selling our Wolverine product is important.”
A recent change to MAWL made all athletic events free of charge for students, where before they had to pay to attend. This decision was agreed on to increase participation from students at events. As a school, undergraduates and graduates can take full advantage and come decked out in their green.
“My mission and objective as the MAWL president is to get school support going,” Trujillo said. “Getting everyone supporting each other. We can do this by students supporting the athletes and the athletes supporting the students. We all need to listen to each other.”
Trujillo shared that he only missed two athletic events this semester and notices immense benefits from becoming involved, such as becoming friends with more people on campus. The MAWL wants everyone on campus to recognize the benefits students don’t realize they are missing.
As students, everyone can get more involved and support the athletes, who are already doing a their part by bringing outside acknowledgement to campus through their hard work and dedication.
“As I was involved in a lot of sports in high school, I always performed and played better the more fans and friends I had watching,” Trujillo said. “This same concept applies to our athletes.”
UVU athletes play and practice hard, and their hard work is paying off. The Wolverine men’s basketball team currently holds the top spot in the Western Athletic Conference, and the men’s cross country team won the conference championship last fall.
“People who are proud of their university when they graduate, donate to their university after they graduate,” Trujillo said.
Students and athletes supporting each other on campus could help grow our relationships in and outside of the classroom, as well as unite the school so green is the prominent color worn every day of the week.
