By Ashlea Hellmann

On game day, Megan Bowen can be found in the University of Louisville’s student section cheering on the Cards.

“You can really just have a ball and it’s almost like a little party,” said Megan Bowen, junior forensic psychology major, about the student section at U of L. “We have a world of our own down there.”

The only problem is Bowen, like many other U of L students, doesn’t know what to call the student section.

Schools such as the University of Kentucky have the Eruption Zone and Duke University has the Cameron Crazies, but U of L has yet to establish an official student section name.

But now, U of L students have a choice.

During the first week of classes, students will have a chance to name the place where they cheer on their team: the student section. The voting will take place online between this week, and can be found on the University’s Athletics web site under the student tab.

“Other schools who are the most successful in terms of student spirit have a student section,” said Trevor Joelson, the student athletic director for the Student Government Association.

As a way to make U of L successful in terms of student spirit, SGA, along with the Athletic Department and the President’s office, have formed a Student Spirit Committee, in charge of raising the spirit level at U of L.

The small committee, who selected the final names to be voted on, was comprised by SGA to be a diverse group selected to represent the student body. The group’s backgrounds ranged from Greeks to minorities to commuter students.

The committee’s first task was to find a name that could represent student fans.

“We wanted a unified section. A name for everything. Whether its football, basketball, soccer or tennis. A section that will be designated,” Zach Brooks, Athletic Assistant Marketing and Development Coordinator, said.

The final names the committee selected to be voted on are: The Ville’age, The Red Army, The Red C and The Nest.

Once the name is voted on, the committee doesn’t plan on ending their job there, instead they also plan to use their most valuable resource, the students, to take the group even further.

While many plans are still undecided, according to Brooks, plans are in the works to create a new T-shirt for the section, as well as offer some incentives to the students who show the most spirit.

Brooks said one of the committee’s goals is to find a way to track attendance at smaller sport games. While this would be in a style similar to the L-Raisers, the prizes would be much different than just better seats.

These games that will earn students points will be called “Red and Black games,” and a full list of the select games can be found on the athletics Web site.

“The goal is to bring the students close together. Whatever school you go to you should feel proud walking around the campus,” Brooks said.