Colony: School without a town

Wasilla Warriors -- from Wasilla, Alaska. Palmer Moose -- from Palmer, Alaska. Colony Knights -- from somewhere in the middle, Alaska.

Many people refer to us as the "in-betweeners" because that is exactly what we are. In between two different cities, Colony High lacks group identification. Because there are no common boundaries within the areas from which Colony students come, we need a common identity.

One of the most contributing factors to how successful or how spirited a school is, is how supportive the hometown is. Colony High School does not have a hometown. The physical address says Palmer, but the students live in Wasilla and Palmer, not in one particular town.

Our physical address and phone number may be Palmer listed, but we are not recognized as a Palmer school. When budgets are being looked at, the city of Palmer and the city of Wasilla give funding to their high schools respectively. Where does Colony funding come from? It seems that our funding comes from parent and teacher donations, or fees that support the individual schedules at the school.

Go into any Palmer or Wasilla business. If they have sports schedules hanging up, they are most likely not for Colony. Being a Palmer or Wasilla business, they want to be supportive of their town's respective high school. Drive through Palmer or Wasilla. There are banners hanging on light poles. These banners say "Home of the Palmer Moose" or "Home of the Wasilla Warriors."

Colony has no home, no place to hang schedules, nowhere to hang banners showing our pride. Colony does not have a hometown, Colony has a street. There is a subdivision behind the school and a car wash down the road. Colony Way has both Colony High School and Colony Middle School. When standing at the end of Colony Way, where it meets with 49th State Street, all that is seen is the Colony schools on the left, an empty field on the right, and a sign -- "Adopt A Highway -- Colony High School."

Yes, there are supporters of Colony High School and their support is very much appreciated. But, most of these supporters are parents, family members, students and alumni. Considering Colony has only been open for about a decade, an alumni program at the high school has yet to be established.

For the past decade, Colony High has remained built around its name, and has only found school spirit where we were able to. Never have we had a city to belong to or a motto to enforce. All of these issues have caused interschool conflicts in the past.

Recently, Colony had a parade for homecoming. They decorated cars and drove through Wasilla, the territory of the team the Knights were playing that night. The parade let more people know that Colony is still here and that they would like to see the town's support.

At a Colony/Soldotna hockey game at the end of last season, there were more Soldotna fans present than there were Colony fans. From Colony, it is a 15-minute drive to the ice rink. From Soldotna, it is a four-hour drive. When there are more people from hours away than there are locals, that says something about the town behind them.

Having support always helps the performance. When there is a crowd supporting the team, the team will always have a better attitude for the game or a better feeling about their performance.

Try to get involved. Ask questions and find out when the games are. Call the school and ask what activities are going on for the weekend. Even the true, loyal Wasilla and Palmer fans could use a little change now and then. Colony could use a change as well -- support.