Freshmen:
Since it was their first Spirit Week, no one had high expectations for the freshmen. Despite choosing the theme “Madagascar,” the freshmen unfortunately did not get too wild with their decorations. With single digit temperatures and high winds, they struggled with the elements, with most of their decorations around the quad falling apart during the first day. Their blow-up animals and palm trees were a nice touch, though. Their banner was surprisingly well made for a freshman class, proving they’ll be strong in this category for years to come. The dance almost would have been painful to watch, but they were so cute, and their main characters were so into it, that it made up for the problems, like lack of unison in the big group numbers. Even the judges laughed through it, appreciating the effort. The penguins were my personal favorite. The group costumes were creative, but more effort needed to be put into the main characters’ costumes, which were seriously lacking, especially the giraffe costume. Although overall the freshmen didn’t have a totally successful Spirit Week, it is a sharp learning curve, and they will no doubt be real contenders in future years.
Sophomores:
The school usually has pretty high expectations for sophomore decorations, but unfortunately this year’s class did not deliver with their theme “Lilo and Stitch.” While a cute theme, it seemed like the decorations committee simply raided the Party City Hawaiian section and threw it all over the tables and walls in Inman, with hardly anything handmade to show off their artistry. This was a major disappointment after their impressive Mystery Machine decoration last year. The sophomore banner wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t outstanding. It was merely normal, nothing to get too excited about, portraying the characters accurately enough. Their dance, on the other hand, went far above and beyond anyone’s expectations for them, really capturing their theme. The best part was that the whole grade seemed to be having a genuinely good time. Surprisingly enough, I would go so far as to say their dance was the best of the four. The Hawaiian costumes were really cute, and the alien costumes were at least a solid attempt if not perfect.
Juniors:
When hearing that the junior class theme would be “The Great Gatsby,” the first word that came to many people’s minds was “glitter.” After exceeding expectations with their “Monsters, Inc.” decorations last year, the juniors set the bar high for themselves. The decorations were impressive given the challenging theme, but not necessarily outstanding. Cleverly incorporating both the movie and the novel with quotes and even literal pages from the book, even the English teachers were excited about the decorations, some saving aspects of them to keep in their classrooms. The E trailer was decorated better than the A trailer, though, incorporating more interesting parts of the movie than the A trailer, which was simply one big Gatsby party. Juniors are veterans in most aspects of Spirit Week but new to the morning dance and video. Their morning dance performance was well-executed, but the attempt at crowd participation obviously failed and was, essentially, awkward, leaving the crowd generally underwhelmed. Their video, however, was exceptional, an exceptional mix of plot line and humor, and it was definitely a surprise when Mark Grenader actually fell into a fountain. Their banner shocked everyone with how beautiful, accurate, and well done it was, literally and figuratively outshining all the other banners hanging in Inman. Their banner is definitely one to remember, as well as one to beat in years to come. The skit was well done and obviously well rehearsed for the majority, especially their transitions. However some of the juniors standing in front clearly didn’t know the dance as well as others, which seemed an easily avoidable mistake. Their costumes were great, even though half the girls were just wearing PDC dresses, and really portrayed the Gatsby party we all imagine.
Seniors:
Per usual, the senior decorations were amazing, incorporating all aspects of their theme, “Looney Tunes.” The Inman center was beautiful, the walls covered with impressive banners. The most popular banners were the walls that incorporated the seniors’ previous themes, with “Looney Tunes” characters dressed up as characters from the other movies. The decorations in the trailers were also outstanding, with each hallway displaying surprising amounts of detail considering the large area being covered. The only criticism I have is the over abundance of carrots that were scattered throughout campus. The seniors’ morning video was split into lots of individual scenes for pairs of characters, and each was funny individually, but the video as a whole was a little too random to really make people fall out of their chairs. The morning dance, though, was one of the best I’ve ever seen, even with a couple of mistakes; it was definitely spectacular and a great start to the seniors’ last Spirit Week Friday. The senior banner is always impressive, even if just because of its enormity, so the unveiling of it was definitely exciting. The finished product was stunning, per usual for their grade, and the scene was amazingly coherent for the amount of characters involved. I also loved the clever usage of their previous banners as a cover to hide this year’s banner. Their skit was very cute and incorporated their theme perfectly. My favorite parts were the Wylie Coyote and Roadrunner bits and the dance with Granny. The costumes were amazingly well done, each with a surprising amount of detail, even though the fur taped to Jared Datoc’s stomach was a little weird. All in all, the seniors definitely ended their last Spirit Week with a bang and left a strong legacy and a high standard to meet for future classes.