Imagine you’ve created a time machine. Of course, the first thing you do is turn the clock back a few years and visit Carlsbad’s campus way back in the day. Yet, the moment you step out of the trusty time machine, you find yourself in an unfamiliar land. What is this place?

The last few years, and recent months especially, the community has witnessed striking changes to Carlsbad High School. Remember the days of racing to class after parking far down the street of Chestnut? Or when the only technology teachers had were overhead projectors?

However, our upgraded campus is not even the most prominent change. Yes, now we have a gorgeous new parking lot, a new football field and new buildings. Not to mention the luxury of fancy smart boards in our classrooms. But these are only superficial changes.

This year, school spirit has been unlike any other. We’ve already hosted the most attended homecoming dance ever at Carlsbad and mounds of enthusiasm at sporting events with the Loud Crowd leading the way.

Furthermore, in past years Spirit Week was barely a blip on students’ radar; however, this year’s dress up days resulted in multitudes of tacky tourists and Disney characters. The same held true for Red Ribbon week, where our school was covered in red and featured a crash car in the middle of the campus.

What has brought this drastic increase of spirit? Certainly we cannot discredit our lovely student body or the unified campus as factors in the exponential growth of Lancer Pride. But there is someone else who deserves our thanks, and that is principal Dr. Steitz.

Though it is only his second year as principal, Dr. Steitz has implemented incredible changes at our school, which have affected the entire spirit of Carlsbad.

Dr. Steitz has brought to CHS the Champion Lancer, Peer Plus and Royal Lancer programs. Champion Lancers recognizes healthy, well rounded students; Peer Plus identifies student leaders; Royal Lancers highlights seniors with the top 20 GPA’s.

These programs mean to reward students for their hard work and bring appreciation to those who deserve it. And it works. By bringing these previously ignored students to attention, the administration under Dr. Steitz incentivizes exemplary behavior, setting the example for current and future Lancers.

Due to the influence of new programs, we’ve drawn together as a unit–a family–to celebrate this. For the seniors graduating next semester, it’s undoubtedly been the best year to end our high school careers. The rest of our population may look forward to the continuation of newfound unity and pride.

It’s a great day to be a Lancer.