By Kimaya Cole, Staff writer
What fun is spirit week when the majority of the school has no spirit? Yes, dressing up and going all out is “so middle school,” but we need something to give us a break from all of our studies. I’m not saying everyone needs to be decked out everyday, but it isn’t that hard to put on a tie dye shirt or wear red, white, and blue.
Part of the reason is that most of our spirit days are repetitive. Students get tired of dressing up for the same thing every year. The names might be a little twisted, but the overall concept is the same. For example, America Day, Mix & Match Day, and Athlete Day seem to be a few of the favorites. Instead of ASB having the only say in choosing the school’s spirit days, the whole school should be involved. Maybe we could have a school poll and let us students choose the top five spirit days, or add suggestions of our own. This will give more students the satisfaction of dressing up if they know they were a part of the decision process.
Another problem is that students don’t have anything to motivate them to dress up or to look forward to afterwards. It sucks that students need bribery to do something as simple as showing school spirit, but that’s the way it is. Multiple people have suggested that we make spirit week a class competition. Each class would compete against one another, obtaining a point for every person that shows spirit. At the end of spirit week, the points would be tallied up, and whichever class wins would be announced and recognized at the rally. Since everyone loves a little competition, this would be the perfect motivator to get students more involved in spirit days. Also, students love getting rewarded with candy in the morning. Who doesn’t love candy, right? There should be different types or sizes of candy handed out determined by how much spirit you have. These fun little activities and bribes might be the key to having a more spirited school.
Last, but not least, multiple students don’t dress up because they fear that they will be too dressed up and made fun of. More than once, I’ve heard people in the halls say, “Well I wasn’t sure if anyone else was going to dress up so I didn’t want to be the only one..” But you will only be the odd one out if you show no spirit. I think a lot of students think that they will look weird or crazy, but 1) they shouldn’t care what people think about them and 2) if everyone else in the school is decked out in wild outfits, there’s no reason to be judging anyone else.
Spirit days are a great way to let loose and show school spirit. What makes it fun is seeing your peers’ creativity and what they ch
oose to wear for each day. When there are a lot of people not dressed up, it brings down the mood. There are a few things that could possibly be changed to increase the amount of students who participate, but overall, showing your school spirit shouldn’t be something to dread.