RBHS held its annual homecoming spirit week Oct. 17-22, with lunchtime games, hallway decorations and dress-up days taking place leading up to the homecoming dance on Saturday, Oct. 23. Following this year’s “Enchanted” theme, student council (StuCo) set a different spirit theme for each day of the week.
Monday was “Sleeping Beauty day,” with students sporting sleepwear from pajamas to robes and onesies. Tuesday was “twin day,” taking inspiration from Alice in Wonderland’s Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum. Wednesday was “Off to Neverland” day, where people could dress up as pirates, mermaids or fairies. The Shrek movies inspired Thursday’s “meme day” theme, and students wore the “bear necessities,” green and gold attire, on Friday.
StuCo started planning for the week-long event in the beginning of September, nearly six weeks before it took place. The group met once every other week at first, meeting more often as homecoming week grew closer. StuCo president, senior Haeam Lee, said he distributed work to StuCo members through subcommittees determined by interest.
“[Options for] spirit week themes were decided [on] as a whole since they had quite a lot of leverage [in their impact toward the event],” Lee said. “Other tasks, like decorations and catering, however, were designated to individual subcommittees.”
While StuCo members were primarily responsible for the organization of spirit week, they still sought participation from the student body, with more significant decisions such as choosing the final theme for the dance made through a schoolwide vote.
Many students and staff members participated in the dress-up days. French teacher Kristin Reed said she enjoys dressing up because she is able to spend time with her students during what she considers one of the more fun weeks of the school year.
“I like showing support for the students and homecoming week. […] It gives me something to work with in my lessons, and I can incorporate it into what we’re teaching,” Reed said. “I like that it’s somewhat normal after [COVID-19] times. I did it before [COVID-19] times too, but [because] it gets students more excited perhaps is another reason [why I participate].”
Reed said her favorite dress-up day was Monday’s pajama day because of the comfortable and cozy clothing options, while others like sophomore Ava Beary preferred Wednesday and Thursday’s more creative and fantasy-inspired themes.
“This week, my favorite spirit day was probably Shrek day because of the convenient costume I happened to have for Lord Farquaad,” Beary said. “I also loved all of the fairies and pirates that I saw, and I saw a lot of Shreks too [which] was very exciting.”
Lee was also a fan of Thursday’s spirit theme, because he was able to go around school taking pictures with friends and strangers alike in his “Katy Perry left shark” costume.
“My favorite theme of the week has been meme day because I got to interact with a considerable amount of the [RBHS] student population with my shark costume,” Lee said. “It was super fun, and I loved everyone’s spirit and enthusiasm.”
Spirit week benefits the school beyond the fun and frivolities. Assemblies create an opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of different clubs and teams in other parts of the school. The homecoming court and voting for homecoming royalty allow the student body to celebrate a few of the many seniors who have made a considerable impact on the school.
“I believe that participating in the spirit days together gives us a way to connect we might not have otherwise connected with. [Spirit week] allowed me to connect a little more within my department because I did “twin day” with a Spanish teacher,” Reed said. “Especially after [COVID-19] when we were so separate and isolated, I feel like [spirit week] gives us another reason to come together and celebrate being back in school.”
What was your favorite spirit day theme? Let us know in the comments below. [penci_image_gallery images=”334217,334209,334213,334216,334212,334210,334211,334220,334207,334219,334214,334208,334218″ auto_time=”4000″ speed=”800″ block_title_align=”style-title-left” custom_markup_1=””]
