“Spirit Week is definitely the best week of the school year,” Kristen Morse (11) said. “People really have a lot of school spirit and like to go all out. It’s fun to see how much effort people put in and to participate myself.”

Preparation for the “best week of the school year,” Spirit Week, begins with StuCo, they’re the ones who come up with the theme for Spirit Week and the Spirit Days that eveyone enjoys.

“Preparing for this week takes a lot of people and a lot of effort,” Alicia Kilpatrick, StuCo president, said.

StuCo met over the summer for their lock-in, Aug. 7. StuCo members presented and voted on the Spirit Days, the Spirit Week and dance themes.

“Once we do pick the day themes we try to figure out which days might be more of a challenge and which days might be easier to participate in,” Mr. Jim Schulz , StuCo sponsor said. “We put some of the easier days at the beginning of the week because it kind of builds the momentum for the rest of the week.”

Mr. Schulz totals up class participation percentages and awards a first and second place winner for each day. Those classes recieve 25 and 15 points, respectively.

The themes for each day of spirit week this year was Murica’ Monday, Tropical Tuesday, Wednesdays We Wear Pink, Hipster vs. Prep on Thursday and Purple and Gold Day on Friday.

Once students find out the themes for each day some go to work on making sure they go all the way.

Tommy Leonard (11) was uniquely dressed in a Reggae rendition of  a tropical costume instead of the popularly sported Hawaiian idea for Tuesday. On Wednesday he was seen from head to toe in layers of pink.

“You have to plan out what you will be doing and how all out you will be going,” Leonard said. “And the most important part is how you can beat Forrest Nettles.”

Forrest Nettles was featured as the Photo of the Day for his ‘Merica Monday outfit, Sept. 30.

Like Leonard, who uses goods on hand in addition to going shopping for the spirit days at Goodwill and Party City, Katherine Miller also planed ahead and shopped too.

“I went shopping at Five Below, and looking around the store I was like ‘Oh this would look good. Oh how about this?” Katherine Miller (11) said. “I also had a bunch of dress up clothing and accessories at my house to use, too.”

Friends often participate together like Miller did with her friend Grace Hammack (11).

“Katherine and I coordinated our outfits for Tuesday,” Hammack said. “We kind of came up with the ideas together. I didn’t even think to go shopping though; Katherine just planned that far ahead.”

Although it is their first Spirit Week, some of the freshman even purchased items too.

“I had my outfits planned out after Monday for the rest of the week,” Ashley Emms (9) said. “I bought pink stuff for Wednesday at Wal-Mart and Target.”

Participating in Spirit Week doesn’t just mean buying outfits or accessories. Many people use what they already own. Mackenzie Sherman (11) wore her red Cardinal’s gear because baseball is Americas’s past time. She also wore blue jeans to have all three American colors red, white and blue.

“You have to make sure you have an outfit planned for each of the Spirit Days,” Sherman said. “For me I don’t go out to buy my outfits, they’re just from what I have already.”

Teachers also take part in the excitement although participation does not contribute towards Spirit points.

“I plan on dressing up for Spirit Week this year because I was voted last year the most school spirited during Kindness Week,” Mrs. Kristen Brauch, Language Arts teacher, said. “They are also easier themes to participate in for me than in previous years.”

All the hype over spirit week outfits may just be for the participation points that add up for the grade score against other grades, but for most people it’s just a fun way to be school spirited.

“Spirit Week is the best week of the school year by far,” Danielle “Dani” Maul (11) said. “It allows everyone to have fun and be themselves without judgement. If people want to be goofy they can without being made fun of. It’s my favorite week because I can be goofy and childish without getting criticized for being myself.”