by Alicia Ptak
Field Day 2011
For a school with twenty-three sports teams, twelve clubs, and a large drama department, Hudson High seems to severely lack school spirit. Only a select few sports actually have supporters come to games. The drama department, who work hard on numerous productions every school year, usually have families as their audience, rather than encouraging students excited to see the play. But, the worst display of spirit seems to be reserved for the week dedicated to showing pride in our school: spirit week.
The word spirit is even in the name, yet the meaning of spirit seems to end there. The week is designed around dressing up in the fun themes each day, all to build up anticipation for the pep rally or field day at the end of the week.
Though some students do dress up, there are few who actually commit to dressing for each themed day. Many students look at the days as a game rather than trying to show excitement for their school. It becomes more of a competition between students of who can dress the most outrageous (such as the gorilla and penguin costumes seen in previous years).
Other kids just choose not to dress up, thinking the whole thing is a waste of time. “What makes a kid wearing a Hawaiian shirt spirited about their school?” asks sophomore Adam Colbert. “And what if you don’t play a spring sport or have tie-dyed clothes? I just don’t see how these days do anything for supporting our school.”
Those who do regularly dress up for the sake of displaying their spirit are affected by students who don’t. “I get disappointed when people don’t do it,” says sophomore Sam Sousa. “When a lot of people don’t dress up, it makes it less fun. It also makes people who do dress up feel awkward because everyone is wearing regular clothes.”
But when twenty-nine students were asked about creating their own dress up themes, almost all were very enthusiastic about sharing their ideas. “When I asked people about creating a theme, they seemed to want to give their opinion,” says journalism student Taylor Polomarenko, who was investigating for her weekly feature All That Chit Chat. “Students were saying how they would actually do their invented themes, and the kids they were sitting with agreed.”
With plenty of ideas that students seem to be excited by, it seems strange that every year Hudson High chooses similar themes that don’t get much support from students. The problem lies in Spirit Committee, who are the decisionmakers for spirit week. Spirit Committee is open to all students, yet only five kids are consistent attendees. That leaves the decision making to them, the teachers who run the committee, and the random students who occasionally attend.
Because they’re the only ones there, it’s only their ideas being tossed around. Students who complain about the themes already created are the ones not attending the meeting and sharing the ideas they’re excited about. If students have ideas that they would actually embrace, they should be attending the meetings and giving input.
Dedicated spirit committee member Sarah Billings believes more students at the meetings could change the school’s spirit. “Spirit committee is all about students planning fun school events,” she says. “If more kids came to help, they would be making field day, pep rallies, and spirit week so much more fun.”
