The Riverside Brookfield High School student section’s purpose is to support RB’s athletic teams during games and competitions. Students from all grades gather in the bleachers to support teams during home and away games, cheering them on. Attendance is especially high during football season, when crowds of students attend, creating a hectic and cramped space.
The RB football team’s first game was on August 25 where they won against J. Sterling Morton High School. The student section was dressed in black for the blackout theme. Due to the large turnout of students, the student section was very busy and crowded. The student section is located next to the band, where it typically takes up one section of bleachers. However, due to the amount of people at the first game, it was expanded partially into the band section. Cara Weinberg, one of RB’s Deans of Students, attends football games regularly for security.
“Our goal is to make sure our students are having fun but that everybody is doing it in a safe way that doesn’t impede on anybody else’s experience,” Weinberg said.
The student section is typically divided into a hierarchy based on seniority. Senior leaders and upperclassmen are in the front of the bleachers, while underclassmen sit higher up. In order to fit all students who attend the games, students stand shoulder to shoulder and are constantly shuffling as more and more students arrive to participate.
“Ideally we are working on expanding that student section so there’s enough room for everyone to sit,” Weinberg said. “I know it gets frustrating when it’s so tight up in that student section, so we want to make sure everyone’s got space.”
While most students in the student section stand on the bleachers, the senior leaders stand in the pathway in front of the bleachers. Seniors in this section generally have to reorganize the student section as they attempt to fill in the bleachers properly. Even when all the gaps in the section are filled, there are still students who stand on the stairs because of the limited space. Although the student section was expanded after the first game, students still seemed to prefer to sit in the main student section in order to see the student section leaders and follow the chants they were directed. Senior Emily Hernandez has attended all the past home games and intends to go to the rest this season.
“[There are problems], especially for the first games when it’s so warm,” Hernandez said. “We always have issues with the students in the walkway, so we should just widen it.”
Senior Oliver Schlesser shares a similar opinion to Hernandez when it comes to the size of the student section.
“I think the student section should be expanded,” Schlesser said. “I think there is a little bit of the band section that we could take from and then maybe extend one section away from the fans because it’s overcrowded.”
RB’s security and administration has tried to help with the overcrowdedness of the student section by expanding the second and third home games, and they plan to deal with it situationally based. A large factor that plays into whether or not the student section will be expanded is spectator turnout. Although the student section can be congested, this doesn’t stop the positive effect the student section has on the football team and the energy of the game.
“Football games are one of my favorite experiences at RB,” Weinberg said. “They always have been, and I think it’s a really good opportunity for kids to get out and socialize, especially in a post-Covid environment. I started here in Covid, and I saw how limited those games and experiences were, and I’m really happy that we have an opportunity to have a big student section [again].”
