I have always been one to go all out. I absolutely love dressing up, and I am constantly waiting for an excuse to wear a fun costume or fancy clothes. When we would have spirit days in elementary school, I would wake up hours earlier than usual just to get ready because I was so incredibly excited. For “crazy hair day” in first grade, I wrapped my hair around a bunch of pipe cleaners to make it stick straight up, and I would wear a full costume for themes like “fairy tale” or “decades.” 

But that was different when I got to middle and high school. Suddenly, during spirit weeks, most of my classmates did the bare minimum or nothing at all, while I was one of the few who dressed up. Soon, spirit days became just normal school days, with the occasional person wearing a wacky accessory or costume piece. I’m always a little terrified whenever spirit week rolls around. I want to dress up, but I am afraid that nobody else will, and I’ll feel left out. So, I end up doing the bare minimum to fit in with everybody else. 

There are some specific themes that most students participate in, like “pajama day” and “anything but a backpack,” both of which are relatively easy to do and don’t require much planning. “Anything but a backpack” day is one of my favorites, as most students bring their school supplies in a container that would not normally be brought to school. The last time we had this theme, I put my books in a cat carrier, which I thought was going all out. Even so, I saw many more students go even more all out than I did, bringing full shopping carts, toy cars that could be driven around the school and many more. That day was so much fun, and seeing all these unique, creative items really raised my mood and overall school spirit.

As a whole, the student body should normalize actually dressing up instead of being boring. Isn’t the whole point of a SPIRIT week to raise school spirit? If everyone collectively decides to dress up and have fun, then the overall mood and vibe of the school would be so much better. 

So, as we go into the last few days of this sweetheart spirit week, I encourage each and every student (including you reading this right now) to dress up to the max and just have fun! Remember to wear your class colors on Thursday and be the tackiest tourist there is on Friday. By raising your spirit, you raise the spirit of the school, so please please PLEASE dress up!