Students united to show their pride during the annual Spirit Week and Spring Pep rally. In the week leading up to April 11, students earned points by either dressing up based on the theme assigned to their grade, wearing the color of the day, or both.
The week began with pajama day. “So High School” followed, in which each grade was given a specific stereotype of a high school student. The third day was dedicated to holidays, and the fourth was Throw Back Thursday, during which each grade dressed as they did when they were younger.
The week culminated in a blue and white themed Pep Rally during sixth period that Friday.
“Throw Back Thursday was my favorite themed day because it was the most creative and relevant,” said sophomore Tracy Naschek. “Many people got really into this day and dressed like they used to. Also, I liked pajama day because I was comfy the whole day, but a lot of people didn’t get involved and into the spirit. Something that could improve the students experience is making the whole school comfortable dressing up, not just the upperclassman.”
On Friday, periods are shortened to 50 minutes to accommodate the Pep Rally. As soon as the last bell rang at two o’clock, students dressed in their school colors and scrambled into the gym to sit with their grade.
The Spirit Week Planning Committee, including senior Sam Crawley, junior Emily Dolan, sophomores Jessie Baer and Aliza Herz, and freshmen Imani Imberman and Emma Furst, brainstormed events that would bring new excitement to the Pep Rally while also incorporating favorite traditions.
“I had a really fun time being involved and trying to get the whole school to participate in it,” said Baer. “I think what I enjoyed most was getting to be behind the scenes of the whole process. It made me so happy when I saw people actually enjoying the hard work we put into it.”
The Spirit Week Committee worked under the new direction of Ms. Lauren Foster-Holzer.
“Recruiting Ms. Foster-Holzer was a big advantage for us and helped us along the way,” said Crawley. “The most challenging part of the experience was probably finding the students that could be representatives because so many students were eager to help out.”
The Committee worked to make the whole school aware of the different themes and daily events. They posted signs about Spirit Week and made announcements about the upcoming events on the loudspeaker.
In addition, the Committee worked to get students with various talents involved. For example, they hosted a banner competition for each grade to encourage artistic students to participate. The Committee had two dress rehearsals the week of Spirit Week, where they timed events and assigned crew members to set-up and clean-up each event.
One of the new events required students to pull tissues out of a box with one hand as fast they could. After the box was emptied, it was strapped around the waist of the student with two ping-pong balls placed inside. Each student then had to shake the ping-pong balls out of the box.
Another event, “Donut on a String,” returned. One student from each grade got down on his or her knees while another student held a donut on a string in front of him or her. The objective was for the first student to eat the donut without using his or her hands to control where the donut moves.
At the end of the Pep Rally, winners were announced. The seniors came in first place by hundreds of points, followed by the freshman, then the juniors, and finally the sophomores.
“Overall, it was a great experience, and, at first, I thought there was not going to be a spirit week so as a senior, I was really upset. But throughout the week, as I saw people dress up and as I saw the Pep Rally unravel, it was really fulfilling because I realized that I’ve done something to benefit the school,” said Crawley.