Spirit Week 2016: The tradition continues

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Courtesy of Mataan Peer

Juniors Chelsie Alexander and Mataan Peer show off their outfits on Wacky Wednesday. Spirit week was held from Monday to Friday this week.

by Jenna Sadhu, Reporter

In upper school math teacher Dana Lieberman’s second period Algebra class, a girl dressed in a polka dotted camisole, neon green nylon tights, hot pink tutu, multicolored socks and mismatched shoes raises her hand to ask a question. In The Edge during sixth period lunch on Thursday, three sets of twins stand in line to grab a plate of ravioli. To the left, there is a Dodger’s fan fighting with a Red Sox fan for the last piece of garlic bread while a volleyball player dives to make a salad in the bistro. During this year’s annual Spirit Week, students in each grade dressed up according to each day’s theme and participated in different class competitions.

Some students went all-out for Spirit Week; they decked out from head to toe in costumes and outfits relating to the different themes, others decided to opt out of participating.

Sports Madness Monday: Students chose their favorite teams’ jerseys and wore them to school or dressed up as an athlete. On Monday, banner competitions between classes took place during both lunches. The spirit club also distributed free Gatorade to help students cool off during the hot weather.

Time Travel Tuesday: Students traveled “back in time” and wore outfits celebrating their past, or traveled “into the future” and dressed up as senior citizens. A multitude of students also wore their old middle school uniforms to school. During both lunches on Tuesday, a relay race took place outside Manzanita.

Wacky Wednesday, or “would you be my friend if I wore this everyday” day: lunch was on Davis Field, where the annual Powderpuff football game took place. During the game, the sophomore and senior girls lost 0-14 against the freshman and junior girls. At halftime, the freshman and junior boys presented their routine to a remix of “Formation” by Beyonce and “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys. The sophomore and senior boys performed a dance to finish off the festivities after the game.

“In the middle school, we had Spirit Week, but it was never as crazy as the Upper School’s,” Lilly Anderson (9) said. “Wednesday was, hands down, my favorite day. It was a lot of fun dressing up in the morning and seeing other kids at school looking ridiculous.”

“Class Choice” Thursday: The freshmen’s theme was “Greasers vs. Socs.” Sophomores decided to stick with twin day but also had the option to twin with Dr. Adler, the sophomore class dean. Juniors picked pajama day and the seniors chose USA day to show their patriotism. The regatta event was held after second period. First, the “Clean Up the Ocean” event took place where pieces of trash were placed in the pool, and students of each grade had to swim out and find the trash pieces and bring them back to home base. The more pieces of trash one obtained, the more points they received. Each class participated in the regatta contest to lap around the pool fastest with a boat built with pool noodles and rafts, along with a belly flop competition that faculty participated in as well. The seniors came in first place, juniors in second, sophomores in third and freshmen in fourth.

“I chose to be a greaser for our dress-up day,” Vincent Vanlonden (9) said. “The regatta competition was a fun experience. It was funny seeing some of my teachers belly flop.”

On the last day of the week, each student wears their class T-shirt for the spirit rally on Friday. Due to Friday’s unreliable weather, the spirit club decided to host the rally “rain or shine,” which seemed to upset some students. Regardless of the weather, the sophomores were joined by their Eagle Buddies during the event. In honor of the seniors’ last rally, some students wore a bit of black in their outfits.

Winners for each class competition will be announced next week. Photos of the winning outfits for each day of Spirit Week have been posted on the Harker Spirit Instagram, @harkerspirit.