At least once a quarter, Longfellow students show their enthusiasm during spirit week. These weeks involve various themes meant to increase students’ school spirit and bring awareness to upcoming events like a holiday or break. Students are encouraged to dress on-theme, wearing bright colors, patterns, hats, or full-on costumes.  These spirit weeks are intended to bring students and teachers together to create a sense of community within the school.

“I think it’s just fun to come to school and have something to look forward to,” said Mia J. “[Crazy outfits] just make the day more fun.” Her favorite day was the pink-out because she enjoyed wearing bright colors while supporting breast cancer awareness.

The SCA arranges and schedules the spirit weeks for students to participate. The spirit days range from tropical to flannel to twin day. The most recent spirit days leading up to winter break included holiday-related themes like winter hats and candy cane day.

This year, the SCA planned a movie night in correlation with pajama day, where they sold snacks and drinks in the lecture hall after school while watching Elf. Some noticed that there was more participation than usual because it was leading up to a fun activity after school that encouraged the attire to be pajamas.

Spirit days encourage kids to wear things that they might not wear regularly. It also lets them express their creativity by creating interesting outfits to show school spirit. 

“You can see new stuff that you haven’t seen before,” said 8th grader Ramsey Hawa. His favorite spirit day so far was jersey day because he could see everyone’s favorite players and teams.

For most, spirit days have been happening since kindergarten, so most students have lots of experience with them. They were pleased to share their thoughts on which days are the most popular, which need a little work, and what they hope to see in the future.

“I hope to see a day where you get to dress up like where you’re from, so people can talk about where they’re from,” said Elvis L., who participates in spirit days because they are genial. He is part of the SCA and hopes to improve spirit days for students.

For those not interested in participating, some teachers hand out small treats to encourage students to show school spirit. Some students, like Maddie R., simply need a little more variety.

“[It’s] literally the same spirit week every time,” Maddie said. “They need to switch it up a little bit.” She has seen a lot of cool spirit day ideas on social media and thinks Longfellow should include some new concepts like country vs. surfer, for instance. 

If you’d like to see a little change to spirit weeks, look for your SCA representative.  Elvis is willing to consider suggestions, keeping in mind that all spirit days must also be approved by the administrators.