From the maintenance staff to teachers to President Parr, everyone at St. Pius X knows about the Jungle student section who cheers on our athletic teams throughout the year, but not everyone is familiar with the Fungle. So, what is it? The Fungle is the section reserved for freshmen, located right next to the Jungle. The big debate, however, is which student section is truly superior.
“At any St. Pius sporting event the seniors always get the Jungle hyped up which makes it more fun,” junior Alex Johnson said. ” I remember my freshman year in the Fungle, and one of its flaws was how small it was and how low the energy felt.”
Junior Matthew Kisla has a different opinion.
“The Fungle is a lot more enjoyable because it’s your first time being a part of a high school student section,” Kisla said. “Since freshmen aren’t on varsity football, most of the boys are in the stands, and you can hang out at the top but still feel like you’re part of something.”
For some, the Fungle feels like a hidden retreat from the chaos of the Jungle, offering comfort and a sense of belonging during that first year of high school. But do the freshmen themselves feel that way?
Freshman Lilah Grasso said she enjoys the Fungle a lot more than the Jungle because there are “no seniors or upperclassmen.”
“When it’s just us freshmen, it’s a lot more enjoyable for us rather than the pressure of the seniors being around,” she said. “If I were in my junior or senior year, I believe my answer would be the same because the Fungle is way more [compact] and is filled with just our grade.”
While freshmen enjoy their small, condensed area and believe that they will always be in favor of that, some upperclassmen argue that the Fungle is simply the starting point to ease newcomers into the more rambunctious atmosphere of the Jungle.
“The freshmen need the Fungle to figure things out, but the Jungle is where the real school spirit is,” junior Emerson Grasso said. Senior Grace Flowers agreed. “The Fungle is cool for new freshmen, but once they experience the Jungle, they will realize it’s the real deal,” she added.
This sentiment isn’t limited to current students. Teachers and staff, looking back on their own experiences in high school, also echo the idea that the upperclassmen sections carried more energy and excitement than the freshman one.
Director of Campus Ministry Ms. Miranda Contreras said the Jungle is similar to her high school’s student section when she was a teenager and that she enjoyed “the chaos with the upperclassmen and loved to create and be part of it.”
As sophomores are now transitioning out of the Fungle this year, they admit that the energy and spirit feels completely different.
“Last year I loved the Fungle but now that I’m a sophomore, the Jungle feels even more exciting and spirited,” sophomore Morgan Howard said.
At the end of the day, both the Jungle and the Fungle represent different stages of the high school experience. Most upperclassmen said they appreciate their time in the Fungle and even miss that separation from the older students, but the overall consensus is that nothing compares to the true center of the Golden Lions spirit, the mighty Jungle.
