For the first time since the 2021-22 school year, Aliso Niguel’s Den took home the title of “Student Section of the Year” for the 2024-25 entire school year.
Every year, Orange County Student Sections (OCSS) hosts a competition between all the student sections of high schools within Orange County. With 10 “Student Section of the Week” titles and 819 total points, Aliso’s Den has been crowned “Student Section of the Year.”
This year’s football and basketball season have been extremely successful and school spirit was in full display. The Associated Student Body (ASB) brought back excitement into each game, encouraging students to attend both the home and away games.
Between creative dress up themes, teal gates, fun interactive props, colored powder, smoke machines and danceable music, students packed the student sections and contributed to the electrified atmosphere at Aliso events.
Creating enough room for every Wolverine who wanted to attend the games was one of the initial struggles faced by ASB this past football season. They conquered that challenge by creating two student sections on the home side of the stadium bleachers.
In addition to that change, ASB also eliminated the wristbands that students were required to have in order to sit in the student section at football games last year. This eliminated the long lines of students trying to enter the games after the kick-off, allowing more students to be present at the beginning of the game.
ASB has made a lot of changes this year to encourage the student body to attend both home and away games. It is safe to say that the changes worked out in the school’s favor. This football season, Aliso had record breaking attendance at almost every single football game.
Activities Director Ms. Ross recalls the away game the Wolverines had against Dana Hills High School this season: “I used to work at Dana and I vividly recall standing on the Dana sideline to say “hi” to some buddies of mine and I looked across the field and saw just the sheer magnitude of how many of our students came out to participate and be part of the fun, which is a testament to our school spirit and pride.”
The culture of Aliso Niguel High School dramatically shifted this 2024-25 school year due to the enthusiastic student body and our ASB efforts.
ASB President Drake Smith (12) said, “Serving as president with the goal of a cultural and spirit revival has been so incredibly rewarding. Seeing the transformation we’ve made in just a year, becoming the most dominant student section in our county’s history, in our school’s history, it’s exactly what we set out to do: to leave Aliso in a stronger place than it was before.”
Aliso could not have done it without the dedication of our ASB and student body. This football season, Aliso’s student sections at away games outnumbered those of the home schools. Aliso’s student body really showed up and showed out this year.
“It’s one thing when the adult in the room has the goals to accomplish big things, but the sky’s the limit when you have kids fired up to make positive change on their campus and make goals they care about and want to put the work in to achieve. I just feel so privileged to work with such an inspiring group of kids who truly care about their campus and school community,” comments Ms. Ross.
It is clear that history has been made this year at Aliso Niguel High School and the bar has been set for future fan participation.
