A group of Slidell High School students are demonstrating school spirit the old-fashioned way, with body paint and a lot of noise.

Known as the Skins, the students are part of a tradition that has been observed since the early 1990s in which members of the senior class select several juniors to join them in adorning their bodies to spell out T-I-G-E-R-S-! at each football game. Those selected then continue the tradition when they become seniors, sacrificing personal comfort in all kinds of weather to support the Tigers.

“We don’t really know how it got started,” said Logan Jordan, Student Council president and the “T” of the group. “It was probably just a random group of guys that showed up to a game one night, and somehow it kept going.”

The Skins help keep the crowd revved up during an Oct. 10 game against St. Paul'€™s School in Covington. Pictured are, from left, Logan Jordan, Jeremy Raffray, Colton Gleason, Tony Broussard, Qiuiriant Bonilla, Taylor St. Pe and Jack Woodham. (Photo by Mike McCall)

There are seven regular members of the Skins. Seniors generally perform as the same letter each time, while juniors tend to rotate. Two alternates, also juniors, are on standby to fill in whenever one of them can’t make it. The students must not have any disciplinary actions against them and must adhere to a strict code of conduct during the game.

Other than that, there are no hard and fast rules, other than a general admonition to stay in shape.

“You don’t really want to take your shirt off and draw attention to yourself if you’re out of shape,” said Taylor St. Pe, a senior.

The guys spend about an hour to two hours getting ready prior to each game, sometimes tailgating beforehand. They got started even earlier in the day recently when they decked themselves out for the afternoon pep rally prior to a game against crosstown rival Northshore High School.

During the game they’re introduced along with the cheerleaders and perform their own acrobatic stunts, although perhaps with not quite as much precision. Borrowing an idea from LSU, they help crank up chants of “Tiger Bait” when the opposing team enters the field.

Not everyone shares their enthusiasm.

“I heard the LHSAA is trying to ban it, not just us, but all high schools,” said Jeremy Raffray, a senior. “I don’t know why they would want to do that because we get everyone involved when we’re at a game.”

When SHS played at St. Paul’s School in Covington last month, school officials there barred the Skins from entering the stands without their shirts. They were allowed to take them off for the game, and after the game, several St. Paul’s parents congratulated the boys for stopping the crowd from booing after a couple of controversial calls.

While there have been a couple of close calls during some of their acrobatic stunts, such as the time the whole group almost toppled over the railing, negative events have remained few and far between. Junior Colton Gleason was suspended from one game for violating Skins’ rules recently, but otherwise such infractions are rare.

The point is to have fun and keep things lively. They donned Halloween costumes as part of their game attire during the Oct. 31 game against Hammond, and senior Tony Broussard asked his date to the homecoming dance by painting the request on his back.

“That could have been embarrassing if she’d said ‘no’,” said Broussard.

With football over for the season, the group is trying to expand into basketball and baseball, as well.

“We’re just trying to keep school spirit up and help everybody have fun,” said Jordan. “If we could do that all year long, that would be great.”