Art/Photo by Darren Chang

Thursday, Oct. 5’s theme was Mathletes or Athletes, where students choose to dress up as one of the two subjects. Students in Mr. Collin’s AP Biology class sported their unique choices of attire. From left to right: Leah Ho (11), Gabriel White (11), and Mackenzie Ashford (11).

    During West High’s spirit weeks, ASB plans exciting themes that allow students to wear unique attire and bring props to school. From Monday, Oct. 2 to Friday, Oct. 6, students participated in the first spirit week of the 23-24 school year. Themes included Jersey Day, Dress Your Grade, On Wednesdays We Wear Pink, Mathletes or Athletes, and Rally Day. 

   The purpose of Spirit Week is to unify the school as one student body. When everybody participates, students can bond over similar approaches to the themes. Sophomore ASB President Chelsea Lee (10) expressed how Spirit Week displays the differences in how “[some students] perceive a certain topic versus how [others] perceive a topic.” The whole “aspect of connecting with other people is really interesting,” Lee stated.

   For Tuesday, Oct. 3, the theme was “Dress Your Grade,” with freshmen as babies, sophomores as toddlers, juniors as millennials, and seniors as senior citizens. Some freshmen were seen holding formula bottles while a few seniors brought fanny packs. Lee described the enjoyable part of spirit week as students being able to “dress up and wear clothes that they never would” sport under normal circumstances.

   West’s ASB puts in a lot of effort to allow students to relish in Spirit Week. ASB President Micah Taw (12) elaborated on the process of generating themes for spirit days. It starts with the ASB Secretary of Spirit Cammi Merendo (11) producing a list of potential ideas. Members of ASB then work together to select the “top five spirit day ideas that make the cut,” Taw explained. Since one week only has five themes, there are many fun ideas that don’t make it to the official announcement. Taw hinted that these themes may appear in the near future.

   Taw loves how Spirit Week lets students “show their creativity,” and he observed that as a result, many “seem much more excited and enthusiastic going to school,” which improves the school spirit experience.

   Participation in spirit weeks promotes warmth throughout the school through the unanimous agreement of students dressing up together. Spirit Week is a marveling sight that helps make high school all the more unforgettable.