A majority of the Jenks community is able to say they’ve found themselves at a Friday Night Lights game sometime throughout the years. They‘ll walk through the gate, find their seat on the bleachers, and watch a game of football like millions of other schools are doing on that very same night. If they go to a game this year they may see something new. All of a sudden the opposing team is on third down and a song starts playing from the speakers. Cheer and Pom girls are on the sidelines holding signs and chanting, desperately trying to get the crowd to participate. 

198. That’s how many state championships Jenks High School has won, ranging from football to baseball to swimming, all the way to tennis. For context: Union, BA, and Bixby combined have 192. As Jenks keeps racking up championships through the years, it has set a pretty high standard for our athletes. It can feel like “ordinary” is never enough–even coming in second place is a loss. I’m diving deep and talking with Jenks Varsity tennis players, Krishna Bhadjiru (9), and Varsity football player Jace Hager (10), to talk about the pressures of Jenks standards and “state culture.”

On a Friday night football game, looking into the stands, you see bleachers filled with students. Screaming and cheering as the boys play on the field. Excitement is filled in the air and the mood is bright. When you go to a girl's sports game, the energy is quite different. Not as many supporters in the crowd, and less publicity to share their hard work. Times are changing at Jenks, whether we like it or not, and women in sports should start being embraced and not criticized.

At Jenks, it feels like there’s something always going on. Especially when it revolves around sports, where Jenks strongly excels at. Amongst most sports, Jenks has over 200+ state championships. The surrounding school districts simply can’t compete. Union, Broken Arrow, and Bixby combine for just under 200 championships. Except for maybe a few outliers, barely any of these amazing games are streamed for viewers at home. Bixby, Owasso, and Broken Arrow all broadcast their games, so why can’t we?

It was just another game when suddenly, bam! Trenna Walls, the first female member of the Jenks Boys’ Football Team to play, gets tackled.

Football at Jenks is everything.

When Jenks students go to football games, what do we see? We see a bunch of sweaty, muscular boys tackle each other and try to get a win. We see boys with their jerseys tucked up, black paint all over their faces; we try to get them to glance at us from the sidelines. But we don’t see the hardships a high school football player goes through to win the games. We don’t see the physical toll the game takes on their bodies. When a high school football player is injured, it can be scary. How do Injured players feel when their future is left on the field?