Choate students “cheer on” the football team at a home game.
Overall, Choate had — at best — a mediocre spirit week. I came from a high school where spirit week was an all-school affair. If you did not participate, you were the odd one out. However, at Choate, you are the odd one out if you dress up. A few years ago, when the dress code was not as relaxed, spirit week would give students an excuse to dress down. Without that incentive, however, minimal students dress up during spirit week. Why does there have to be an incentive to make spirit week successful? It should simply be known by all students and faculty to go all out for spirit week.
This lack of school spirit begins with the senior class. Seniors need to set an example for the underclassman and show what spirit week should ultimately look like. If all the seniors were to dress up, it would arouse spirit among all the underclassmen. Given my previous spirit week at my former school, I could not believe how few students I saw dressed up as I walked through the senior section of the dining hall. Why would the underclassmen dress up for spirit week if the seniors don’t?
Another possible fault is the spirit week itself. The themes for each day of the week were not original. In fact, they were the exact same themes as last year, with the exception of twin day instead of decades day. How are you even supposed to know if someone has dressed up for twin day if they are not next to their twin? Instead, why not go with a theme such as tacky tourist day, senior citizen day, or jazzercise day? If we were to have better themed days, the amount of involvement would increase tremendously.
Spirit week should be an all-week event, not just four days. By lengthening spirit week, the student body would inherently be greatening the significance of our rivalry with Deerfield. For the full week, student council needs to implement better themes. Combine more days to show spirit with more thought-out themes, and students would feel more connected to the school they represent.
Boar Pen made an effort to amp up the student body for spirit week with their announcement at school meeting, but it simply wasn’t enough. As leaders of school spirit on campus, Boar Pen needs to dictate the look of spirit week. Whether that means visiting dorms to make an announcement, sending out emails, or creating a video, Boar Pen could have taken more initiative and really rallied people up. They should have at least been able to encourage more involvement in spirit week in their own grade.
Our busy lives should not serve as an excuse to not dress up for spirit week. Choate’s community usually is a spirited bunch, but our spirit week did not reflect that. Spirit week could really stand to improve if there were more senior participation, better spirit themes, and more initiative from Boar Pen.
