Spirit week at YHS is a phenomenon that brings students and faculty together by participating in dress up themes everyday, enjoying fun activities, and capping off the week by cheering on the football team and dancing at the homecoming dance. Homecoming week also brings out the competitiveness between grades since each spirit week activity awards points for engagement from each student and grade collectively. The desire to earn the points needed to win spirit week brings each class together and a sense of community can be felt throughout the school. This year’s 2022 spirit week had lots of things to revisit. School spirit was greater than ever!

Each year, spirit week is celebrated by dressing up in different themes. This year, students and faculty showed their school spirit by dressing up in these themes: Decade day, tropical Tuesday, jersey day, neon day, and ending the week with class color day. Classes were brought together through the motivation to win spirit week, so participation was high. The amount of students who participate in the theme each day are counted in their second block, and the information is compiled as the week progresses.

The entire week of spirit week is exciting, but the last day is what students look forward to the most. Schedules are shortened to allow time for the pep rally at the end of the day Friday. This year, after having shortened classes, students were able to participate in spirit week activities. The activities offered a range from relaxing cupcake decorating, coffee palooza, and face painting, to more intense activities such as flag football, spikeball, and knock out. The vast array of activities allowed students to have a fun spirit day while still remaining within their comfort level and indulging in their interests. These activities, especially ones like flag football which tend to draw a crowd, are what really brought students together. Whether it be working on art projects together or cheering for their friends playing flag football, students bonded over the time spent together.

After spirit activities concluded for the week, everyone came together in the gym to gather for the pep rally. Each class proudly presented their class flag that groups had been working on throughout the week, and seats were quickly taken as students excitedly awaited the start of the pep rally. Chants were heard across the rows of bleachers from competing classes, and everyone cheered for tug of war. After tug of war and chants, the long awaited rankings were revealed. This year, freshmen were in last place, sophomores in third, juniors were runner up, and finally, seniors took the highly coveted first place. Each grade let out their own exclamations at the results, whether they were accusatory shouts or celebratory cheers.

The following Saturday, the classes put aside the rankings from the pep rally and joined together on the football field bleachers to cheer for our own YHS football team. After a well played game against Fryeburg, the Wildcats were victorious, boosting school morale. Students rushed home to get ready for the homecoming dance a few hours later, and at the end of the night and week, all of the students felt a greater connection.