School pride and wearing Dixie State University apparel go hand-in-hand.
It doesn’t matter if they are on campus or not, but whenever I see someone wearing anything that has the DSU logo, I automatically think it must be an athlete, a member of student government, or an international student.
I’m not saying I am exempt from that; I am usually the person you see on campus wearing a University of Utah shirt. When I go to sporting events, I usually wear some kind of red, but the only red I have is full of Utah Utes logos.
“Well (I wear DSU apparel) because I’m on the tennis team; it’s kind of showing others the pride I have for my team and the pride I have for Dixie,” said Courtney Comstock, a freshman engineering major from Garland. “I see a lot of athletes wearing Dixie apparel.”
The first time this came to my attention was from Jeff Cluff, the coordinator of media relations for DSU. He said I needed to change what I wear. Being a big Utah fan, I looked down and, of course, was wearing a shirt with the Utah drum and feather logo. Cluff continued to tell me he only ever sees me in Utah gear.
I had no response to his suggestion. I like going to Dixie State, and I love attending sporting events, but I don’t have any clothing but basketball shorts that have “Dixie State” on them and the “Beat BYU-Hawaii” shirt I received from the basketball game last semester.
The second and most recent time was when I was driving down 700 South toward the university and I saw a student walking down the street from afar and noticed he had on a Dixie State shirt. Instantly, my mind told me he was either an athlete or an international student. He didn’t look like either one, and I was fairly surprised.
Even while I am at DSU sporting events, I don’t see many people wearing Dixie State shirts. The lone exception might be at the basketball game against BYU-Hawaii.
Thinking of these moments has made me wonder why DSU students don’t wear the school apparel. Maybe we, as a student body, don’t have the same school spirit we have for other big-name schools such as the University of Utah or Brigham Young University.
I have considered many reasons why students may not wear the school apparel, and I have yet to come up with a valid reason, and remember, I am not exempt.
If you don’t attend sporting events, you should. That is the beginning of having pride for your school. Watching the players take on other schools and genuinely wanting the team to win is a start to the pride of going to DSU.
I would recommend going to both the men’s and women’s basketball games because of how well the teams play and the excitement the game brings.
If you don’t wear DSU apparel, I hope you would begin doing so. I am going to try harder to have school pride and wear the apparel.
