Englewood High School students walked around painted in blue, decked out in orange, and looking like a teacher they like. This is all part of Winter Spirit and Kindness Week 2024.
“I really like it. It’s fun seeing like everyone who usually dresses in the same type of clothes being different and you know express themselves differently once in a while,” said freshman Jae Harris.
She thinks EHS has spirit, “I feel like we have a decent amount, obviously it could be a lot better. But I hope that as the years go on, we can get more and more spirit.”
Harris says her favorite part is teacher participation, “Yeah, I’m seeing my teachers dress all weird and stuff. Less intimidating and it’s more fun to learn.”
PE teacher Belinda Hayes loves having spirit week in January, “I thought it was a really good idea.” She says spirit week should have more participation, This spirit week was a little bit less participated in, so I don’t know if it’s about the time of year or what the deal is, but I feel like a lot of people didnt participate this week, at least as of yet, it’s just Wednesday,” said Hayes.
Senior Stella Hapke will only have one more chance to dress up so she really likes Spirit Week,
“I like how creative our ideas are for the school.” She says she tried to dress up as much as possible, “I try my best to do so but if I can’t it’s usually because I don’t have the right clothes for it.”
Anne Drees is the adviser for Student Government. The government class came up with the idea of Winter Spirit Week in December and is excited to see it all come together, “I think spirit week is a lot of fun and I enjoy watching students enjoy this week and share their school spirit every day.”
This is the first year seminar classes are decorating doors during spirit week, “I think the door decorating is fun because it gives you a chance to come together as a seminar group and think about the theme of the week and it gives you a great opportunity just to have some fun.”
She says the daily activities were picked people would enjoy, “The students thought that these would be good activities that their fellow students would enjoy. We tried to add some new events so that this will be a little more memorable, a little more fun.”
Spirit week in the middle of winter is supposed to cheer you up, “Yes, absolutely, because winter can be long and cold and so this adds a little more spirit to it,” said Drees.
“It’s fun to participate in,” said sophomore Jared Woodard. Fellow sophomore Jaiden Williams likes Spirit Week, “I really liked the idea.”
Williams will not be participating in the carnival happening Wednesday evening, “But I know a couple of friends that are going to go.”
“I think the doors are a pretty good addition to the spirit week, and I think it looks good,” said freshman Adrienne Hernandez, “I think spirit week is a fun activity for high school.”
Many teachers participated in dress-up days including Algebra 2 teacher Jamie Hesselberg, “I like the opportunity to mainly just dress out of my comfort zone and since I’m a teacher, I don’t get to wear like comfy clothes very often at work so I like spirit week because I get to wear comfy clothes.”
She was excited to decorate her door, “I liked it. I’m competitive. So I like any competitions that I’m presented with, especially if there’s a prize. My seminar really liked it. They really took off and did their own thing. So I enjoyed it a lot.” The class theme? “It is Cherry Blossoms,” said Hesselberg.
Day 1: Cozy up with kindness
Day 2: Dress as someone you like or admire.
(DRESS YOUR TYPE)
Door Decorating (Winter theme)
Day 3: Orange Out
Day 4: Outfit swap with teacher who inspires you.
(STUDENT- TEACHER SWAP)
Day 5: Class Colors/Pep Assembly
