School spirit is widespread, but many show it differently. Here at AHS, we show our spirit with sports, music, games, and even dressing up. Spirit week is something we do at AHS that involves the whole school, and is supported by many, but Arlington high school in specific, rarely does spirit weeks.
“Oh, gosh. We probably do them 4 times a year, I know Key Club did one week for us. So, about 3 times a year.” Said Julie Martin
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Marten is the ASB/Leadership teacher, and I wanted to ask her about the amount of spirit weeks. Why do we not have spirit weeks so often? Here’s what I’ve collected.
“I think it just goes with the holidays, or beginning of school, or whatever. If you have too many, then it’s watered down and people don’t want to do them.” Said Martin
Due to the placement of the spirit weeks, they usually revolve around a center theme. Every year, there are repeating themes, like pajama day, denim day, eagle spirit, etc. How could the spirit weeks get watered down, but not the themes?
“Normally, we try and do ones that a lot of people can do, so then it’s not super niche to the point where only a couple people can do it, as well as making it fun still” Said Senior, Hudson Younger
Repeating themes bring a sense of inclusivity and familiarity to the table. According to Martin, most people choose to participate on these days rather than others. With these themes, the ASB staff just wants to see more, and this seems to be how they’re doing it.
“I love spirit weeks. I feel like it’s an opportunity to get everyone involved, and I think we’ve been trying to make them more so like, the themes are things people actually have so everybody can participate.” Said Jersey Walker, Sen
When making spirit weeks, a lot goes into it. Games, themes, decorations, etc, but, the deadline is also something that should be considered. Due to having a short amount of time, or a long amount, this can impact how many spirit weeks we have. How long does it take to make an event?
For the clue game, “we had to really bust our tails a little bit to get it all done in not even a week’s time to get it rolled out. So, hopefully, in the future, we’ll have more time to be able to do cool things like that.” Said Martin.
