WEB EXCLUSIVE Spirit leaders, introduced the new spirit program for the 2020-2021 school year at an all school assembly. This will include a spirit committee comprised of students from all grades.

“We really wanted to get more students involved in the decisions besides just the two upperclassmen leaders,” senior Kati Walter said. “The spirit committee is a way for all grades to participate and help facilitate the exciting events we have planned to boost school spirit.” 

The committee prepared a video and school wide Kahoot for the assembly. Members also extended the invitation again to students to join the committee as a way to engage with the planning and discussion surrounding the spirit program. 

“I’ve always loved school spirit so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to join,” sophomore Amaliya Sypult said. “ I really enjoy helping out with the decision making process for example, picking out what we are going to do for Spirit Week.”

The spirit committee meets once a week on Thursday during the lunch period on Zoom to discuss upcoming school events and activities to increase school pride. The group is lead by the spirit leaders and faculty member Dana Kuwahara. 

“I got involved with the committee from the athletics standpoint trying to boost exposure and excitement around athletics,” Dana Kuwahara Head of Athletics & Physical Education said. “I also attended a high school that has a lot of school spirit and it made it such a fun environment within the school so I wanted to implement something like that here.”

Classes are assigned a color based on the school’s colors: freshman are orange, sophomores are green, juniors are blue, and seniors are red. Students of all grade levels are encouraged to participate in spirit activities and gain points for their class. 

“In order to build community in the school, it must come from every grade which starts in freshman year,” Kuwahara said. “These spirit initiatives are a great way to get everyone involved and instill pride in their class and their school.

The leaders, senior Kati Walter and junior Zeke Noveshen, said there will be various opportunities throughout the year to earn class points with the goal of earning the title of class of the year which comes with a reward presented at the end of the school year. Students can gain points by service hours, going to Barclays, club participation, dance and game attendance, and weekly online submissions. 

“The incentives are to encourage students of every class to be active in the school community,” Walter said. “We really hope this spirit program will foster a fun and competitive environment for students to compete with other classes and show their school pride.”