The week of Sept. 22nd, HBHS students and staff celebrated homecoming, games and the dance by dressing up for Spirit Week. The five themed days included (in order) 80s Day, Soccer Moms vs Barbecue Dads, Seasons, Rhyme Without Reason, and HB Gear Day.
Each day of the week is a chance for the school to come together and ¨to build a community within our school¨ and to ¨get people excited¨ about homecoming ¨rather than [feeling like] an obligation,¨ says Class of 2026 President Ella Callahan. These dress up days allow for students to be more enthusiastic about coming to school and showing their spirit. It also “changes up the school day a little bit,” says Assistant Principal Yolanda Flamino.
Even though these spirit weeks are so much fun, there is a lot of work that goes into them, and a lot of thought as to what will keep students engagedand looking forward to these dress up days. Callahan explains that the freshman (class of 29) pick the theme for Monday, sophomores (class of 28) pick the theme for Tuesdays, juniors (class of 27) pick Wednesdays, and seniors (class of 26) pick Thursdays. The week usually ends with an HB gear day, where students and staff wear their Hollis Brookline/ Cavaliers gear to help show support for the school.
Students and staff are thanked for their effort and participation every time there is a spirit week, however, Student Council and administration have noticed the numbers of people who participate have started to decline.
Jordan. Cormier, the Class of 2026 advisor has had some ideas as to what might help improve this:,“I would be curious to see if, now since we have this new advisory model in place, we can get more kids to participate through different activities.”.
Callahan agrees that participation numbers have decreased, and she says “[students can]really just use this as an opportunity to express yourself, and have fun with that”.
Cormier, Flamino, and Callhan all agreed that spirit week helps to contribute to, and create a community and culture within HBHS. Most of the days are themes that can be done with one or multiple friends, creating chances for community building, and strengthening our school’s culture as a whole. Hollis Brookline High School’s next spirit week will be for Halloween, at the end of October.
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