Are you ready for some Friday night football?

We hope so and would love to see a strong turnout for tonight’s football game which will serve as Oliver Lucas’ official debut as head coach at George Rogers Clark High School.

Let’s welcome him the right way and give these student athletes the support they deserve. The football team has had some rough seasons in recent years and this offers a fresh start and the ability to lay a strong foundation for the future.

And once that school spirit is flowing, let’s keep it going and make sure we recognize the efforts of the other fall sports student athletes and groups that may not always get recognition they deserve including cheerleaders and marching bands.

In fact, we should take that same community pride we hope to see fill the stadium tonight and try to convey that for all our students.

How do you do that? Easy. Talk to them. Ask them how their day went. Tell them “good job” if they accomplish something.

As residents, we can all play a role by learning more about the great things going on in our schools and congratulating students for a job well done. It starts with asking questions and being engaged.

We love high school sports and want to recognize our student athletes. This is evidenced in our Kickoff special publication inside today’s newspaper that showcases all the fall ports teams in our schools.

But we want to celebrate all our students.

If you have a child or grandchild who does something extraordinary, let us know about it. If you are a teacher who has a class that is going above and beyond, help us sing their praises. If you are an administrator that wants to spotlight something unique, reach out to us.

So, let’s show our school spirit under the Friday night lights and on the other fields of competition, but let’s also cheer on our stars in the classroom and the community.