Spirit Week 2017
When Homecoming and Royalty of Courts roll around each year, the halls of Troy buzz with excitement over the nominees, the upcoming football or basketball game, and the reinvigoration of school spirit.
One way that Topeka High celebrates this school spirit is with its tradition of spirit week, which consists of an assortment of four wacky dress-up days followed by Friday as black and gold day. Past examples of these dress-up days include Character Day, Olympic Day, Decade Day, and Space Cowboy day.
Many students look forward to this opportunity to show their school pride. “I love spirit week, it’s my favorite time of the year,” senior Maura Fitzgerald said.
While some students look forward to this time of the year, others take issues with some of the lack of participation.
Regarding the past week’s Royalty of Courts spirit week, freshman Ann Beall said the following: “[The participation] was good among people who usually dress up but bad among most other people because there wasn’t good publicity.”
Spirit weekdays are chosen by StuGo, which is composed of student-elected representatives for each class. They spend one day each semester at a retreat where they plan events for the year and choose spirit week days.
In theory, students should have a voice in the selection of the themes because they have representatives that they can give their input to. However, even some StuGo members feel that the representatives do not consider the wishes of their peers.
“I would suggest choosing things that your class would actually like to do and not really specifically what you want to do,” Fitzgerald said.
While there are problems with Spirit Week, it continues to be a beloved tradition and the producer unforgettable memories.
