In collaboration with administration, Jones students have recently developed a new athletic committee seeking to assist and gain support for our athletics departments.

“Goal number one is just to understand what the athletes feel is going well and what needs improvement,” said English teacher and new assistant athletic director, David Gilmer. “From there, [we will be] working to keep our athletic teams strong.”

Members had their first meeting in January of 2024 and will continue meeting monthly to foster communication between students and admin. 

“In the first meeting, he asked us, ‘What are your dreams or goals for the athletics program?’ because the administration definitely wants to hear student athletes’ input, ” said Girls Varsity Soccer captain and Athletic Committee member, Ellie Ceraso ‘24. 

The committee acts as a space for students to practice their problem-solving skills and make positive changes within our athletics department. 

“Students will provide feedback on how athletics are going and also to help volunteer to do things like hang up flyings or attend games or recruit their friends [in order] to build athletics as much as possible at Jones,” said Gilmer. 

 Working together, committee members have already organized many of their goals for next semester and the overall future of Jones Athletics.

“I know that we talked about wanting to up the social media presence of Jones Athletics, maybe re-up some of the wall banners in the gym, and pay more respect to current athletes,” said Ceraso.

These efforts aim to engage students and parents and keep the Jones community informed about upcoming games and events.

 “School spirit is some of it but we really want to have more flyers for home games, and we want to have better communications via the website, things like that, ” said Gilmer.

Ceraso specifically outlines the goals for the soccer team. 

“I mentioned what we wanted for the turf field, like new lights, and a scoreboard. Those are obviously bigger, more long-term goals,” said Ceraso. 

Many student-athletes agree that Jones lacks a certain amount of school spirit which could influence our sports teams. 

“People say ‘Jones has no school spirit’ but a lot of teams are in premier conferences. But we’re not a bad school for athletics, we just have to build our presence a little bit more in order to be in the same caliber as schools like Lane and Whitney,” said Ceraso.  

Students believe this committee has the potential to help boost school spirit and gain overall support for our teams. 

 “I feel like there is spirit within the team but outside of the team, not so much,” says student-athlete Andreas Alfaro ‘25. “I always wanted to come to high school and have that ‘High School Musical’ type of home games so maybe this committee will help.”

As our spring sports teams prepare for their season, they will begin with support from the student athletics committee. 

“We’ll check back in a month and see what else the students who have either volunteered or been asked to participate want and what’s necessary for our goals,” said Gilmer.