The week before break, MTHS had a holiday spirit week with five themed days: ugly sweater day, holiday movie character day, white-out day, pajama day, and holiday families day. Students had a variety of opinions on these days, ranging from exuberant to uninterested. 

Many students value spirit week as a way to get some holiday spirit. Junior Sarah Sprague shared that “I chose to participate in some of the spirit days this year…to get myself excited about the upcoming holidays.” Spirit week allows students like Sprague to get into the holiday spirit in the week before break. Junior Cate Herr and freshman Willie Allen agree, saying that spirit week is a fun way to get excited about the holidays. 

Some students also consider spirit week a valuable show of school spirit. Junior Mae Garber considers spirit week “a really easy fun way to come together as a school and get excited for whatever we’re having the spirit week for.” She added that “I think that the people who neglect to put any effort into doing spirit week have no school spirit and are lame because there’s no reason not to do spirit week if you can.” Senior Peyton Schrader shared that “Township, in my opinion, is a very spirited school, so spirit weeks are just second nature.” 

However, some students are much less enthusiastic about spirit week. An anonymous freshman shared that “I didn’t participate in spirit week because none of the days really stood out to me.” Junior Owen Shelton said that he would rather just get through the week leading up to break. Junior Vraj Parikh said that he, too, did not care for spirit week, citing that “it wasn’t something that I was particularly interested in.”

Despite students who were not interested in spirit week, pajama day was the overwhelming favorite of the spirit week days. Sophomore Leighton Underwood said that pajama day was his favorite day simply because “pajamas are super comfortable.” 

“[Pajama day] seemed to be really popular throughout the school,” said Junior Nora Lowther. “Pajamas and winter go hand-in-hand!” It’s no surprise that pajama day is so popular; after all, as described by Herr, “it was fun to wear pajamas to school especially with holiday break upon us.” 

On the other hand, not every spirit day was a hit, as multiple students expressed dislike for holiday character day. As described by Allen, “Dress up like a character day is difficult because people don’t just always have holiday costumes around,” Underwood felt similarly, sharing that he wouldn’t want to wear a costume to school. 

Students also had some ideas for new spirit days. Many students advocated for a holiday colors day, where students could dress entirely in one color, as it would be an easy day that anyone could participate in. Some students also suggested a colorful class competition day. Sprague suggested “A day where each class dresses with a different ‘holiday’ color…Students could wear red, green, white, or blue, depending on what grade they are in.”

Others realized that spirit week is Christmas-centric, and encouraged a day inclusive to all holidays. As explained by Allen, “A day that I think would be cool would be dressed like a holiday day…that way people could show different holidays they celebrate in their culture during the designated spirit week at our school.” Allen supports this idea because it would make spirit week more inclusive. 

In the end, the week before break wouldn’t be the same without spirit days. Every student interviewed said that spirit day makes the week before break different and special. As shared by Lowther, “I really enjoy the festive vibe that spirit week brings to our school, and I hope to see it continued and improved in future years!”