Homecoming week is full of spirit and fun, leading up to Friday’s annual homecoming pep rally. The SGA comes together every year in order to plan five days’ worth of spirit week themes, which students are encouraged to participate in.
This year, homecoming week consisted of four school days, with Wednesday off for a Jewish holiday. Monday was pajama day, followed by time travel Tuesday, TikTok Thursday, and class colors on Friday. There was some conflict regarding Thursday’s theme. The original theme planned was “vsco girl,.” This style consists of oversized T-shirts, shell necklaces, scrunchies and Birkenstocks. Hydro Flasks are also common for “vsco girls.”
As students dress this way by choice in their daily life, there was hesitation about keeping this theme, as students may view it as offensive. After discussion about the theme, the SGA made the decision to change the theme to a broader version of “vsco girl” giving Thursday the “TikTok” theme. “The SGA received comments in regards to the theme “vsco girl.” Some students felt attacked or offended by the choice of this theme. We decided to change the theme last minute to avoid any further complications,” senior Haley Schienberg said.
As spirit week is supposed to be a fun way for students to be involved with the school and show school spirit, a large number of students decide not to participate, leaving only a small number of students who actually dress up. This issue is seen annually, as students tend not to participate in school spirit. “Every year we take the time to plan themes for spirit week, and every year we see less students participate in it, which is upsetting because we do our very best to bring spirit to the school, but is also a choice that is up to those students,” junior Kelly Baldwin said.
Monday and Friday were the two themes students participated in the most, pajama day and class colors day. “The reason I only dressed up on Monday and Friday is because I had limited things to wear for the other two days of spirit week. Personally, I think students participate in pajama day the most because it is the easiest day to dress up for, as well as the comfiest. Class colors is also an easy day to dress up for because students tend to have at least one clothing item matching their class color,” freshman Jolie Graham said.
Spirit week ended with Friday’s pep rally, another event that encourages students to participate in school spirit. Even at the pep rally, students lack school spirit. Every year, there is a cheering competition against all four classes, donating money to the loudest winning class. Students choose to scream quietly, or even say nothing at all. “During the cheering competition there were students surrounding me who did not even say a word when it was time for the senior class to scream. It is upsetting to see how many students choose not to participate in school spirit, as I feel it is a major component of making your high school experience enjoyable,” senior Olivia Kerben said.
