Next year, all grades will be able to join a new branch of Student Government called Academy Fans. Mrs. Holly Hinch will be the lead adviser for the group.

“When the original idea came about, we named the project ‘Spirit Squad’ but after a lot of deliberation we decided on the name ‘Academy Fans’ so the name is unique to Notre Dame,” said the newly elected Mermaid, Cecelia DeRuyter. 

Academy Fans will be a group of individuals interested in supporting, attending and embracing all student activities. 

The mission statement for Academy Fans reads, “Academy Fans fosters school spirit by supporting, attending and embracing all student activities at Notre Dame Academy. Academy Fans encourages a wide variety of representation from various grade levels and interest groups to create spirit filled leaders.”

Newly elected FanMan, Henry Streckenbach, and the Mermaid will be the leaders of the new group.

Streckenbach and DeRuyter will be running meetings and reporting what is going on in all those meetings to the executive board. 

“It will be run similarly to the way the Outreach and Senate branches are run,” said DeRuyter. 

While the original idea was brought up by the old executive board, the new executive board will be carrying out the idea this fall.

Since it is hard for the FanMan and Mermaid to attend all the events, this is a solution to having more representation at all sporting events. 

“Having a team will allow a greater representation at all events,” said DeRuyter. 

The vision for this group is for anyone that is interested to be involved with the expectation of being an active member within the Academy Fans one way or another. 

“People are encouraged to help with cheers, making posters or coming up with ideas,” shared the Mermaid.

Hinch is “very excited to get more student engagement in activities around the school.”

“I think this will be a great place to support each other and build up positivity about student activities,” shared the Academy Fans adviser. 

She hopes that 25 people joining would be a great start while this is their first year running this new branch. 

All students who want to join are encouraged to reach out and attend the informational meetings.