McAuliffe’s first spirit week of the year took place from September 14-18. Its “welcome back” theme provided a great way for students to prepare for the bizarre schedule of hybrid learning.

Students in McAuliffe’s leadership class – a brand-new combination of ASB and the journalism elective – created events for spirit week for exactly that purpose. “I know this is a really hard time for all of us and we need to bring our spirits up to make it through this year,” lends eighth-grader Jenna-Nicole Bustos. 

Making the best out of an unfamiliar situation, ASB members found a way to spice up spirit week. An Instagram challenge was held for the duration of the week, encouraging students to post pictures of themselves in their themed clothing in exchange for an entry into a raffle. Unfortunately, only around two photos made it onto social media. Nevertheless, many people still chose to participate by submitting their best spirit outfits through their grade level Google Classrooms.

On Monday, students started out strong, wearing flower leis and Hawaiian shirts to Google Meets. Tuesday saw many kids donning band t-shirts. In the middle of the week, some chose to roll out of bed and attend online school in their coziest pajamas. Pajama day was a definite favorite. “I hope that they keep that one at McAuliffe for spirit week for many, many years… It’s honestly really, really good so far,” states Meaghan Fish, also an eighth-grader. Thursday and Friday were also filled with spirited clothing.

Most feedback received on spirit week was positive. Some students enjoyed the new themes, and others simply had fun dressing up. Regardless of the existence of negative opinions, leadership students should definitely be proud that their first project delivered a decent turnout.

Ultimately, spirit week should be considered a success. And with hybrid schedules just around the corner and plenty of more time to create new ideas, the next spirit week will likely be even better than the last.