By Quincey Reese, Staff Writer
The student section at football games is a way for students to unite to support their school team, often through a particular theme. For students at Penn-Trafford, controversy recently arose over the selection of such a theme.
Leading up to the P-T versus Woodland Hills game on Sep. 16, seniors Saverio Esposito and Cameron Coy, who lead the student section, wanted to do a blackout theme for this game. The administration, however, disagreed with the idea.
“I found out that morning that teachers weren’t happy with doing a blackout,” Esposito said. “We went down and talked to the principals about it and got a general consensus from the teachers and found out they were unhappy with the idea.”
Principal Tony Aquilio said the administration wanted the theme changed because students had used it in a racially inappropriate way in the past.
“We decided not to have blackouts anymore because a couple kids ruined it for everyone else,” Aquilio said. “We want to keep things respectful because we want people to have a good impression of P-T. The students here are respectful and classy 99 percent of the time, so it’s a shame that a few kids ruined it for the rest of the school.”
He went on to explain that there is nothing wrong with doing a blackout otherwise.
Throughout the course of the day, there were several back-and-forth statements on social media as to what the theme was. Esposito said he and Coy thought the theme was okay at first, but had to change it a couple times due to the school’s disapproval.
“The ultimate decision was made, because we were told to change it,” Esposito said. “We wanted to do a blackout but we weren’t allowed, so we changed it because of the administration.” Esposito said that he had many opinions on the topic but did not wish to share anything further.
P-T senior Sam Matoney had mixed thoughts on the situation.
“I agree and disagree with it at the same time, because in past years whenever we would do a blackout theme, nobody thought of it as being racist,” she said. “We just thought it was another cool theme. But I will say that I could see how Woodland Hills would take it as being racist with the world we live in today.”
She added that some students may have done something to make it racist, but a majority of the school would not have given such an action a second thought.
Junior Eden Elma agreed with these opinions.
“This theme has been done so many times in the past. Students weren’t doing it to be racist, we were doing it to have a theme and show support for our football team,” Elma said.
Ultimately, the students changed the theme from a blackout to “morp” or neon colors. Aquilio made an announcement at the end of the school day to clear everything up and set the theme straight. He said he was pleased with how the students responded to the change.
“I was impressed with the respect the students had, and it actually helped me build some trust with them because it shows they actually listen,” Aquilio said. “When students ask for things in the future, I’ll be more likely to say yes because I know I can trust them.”