As the 2019 Spirit Week approached Cinnaminson High School, many students looked forward to the competition, dressing up for the various themes, and the right to brag for an entire year.

This year’s Spirit Week started off with the signature poster competition, during which every grade creates posters for the selected theme of the week.  Student Council selected “Pirate Homecoming for the History Books”, a theme that assigned each grade a particular decade that they could creatively represent. Once each of the Student Council representatives from each grade created their posters, judges evaluated and ranked the posters, designating first through fourth place prizes.

On top of the poster competition, the week was filled with several class competitions, including food drives and penny drives where the grade that brings in the most is awarded points. Students were also encouraged to dress up during the week according to each day’s theme, and the class with the highest percentage of participating students claimed first prize for that given day.  Each year, students look forward to both new and old themes, and revel in the chance to express their individual take on the given topic.

“I think spirit week is a cool way to express what you think about the themes,” shared senior Macy Kravil.

Among the themes were student favorites “Ultimate Mismatch Day” and “Decades Day”, as well as two new themes, “Rapper/Rocker/Country Day” and “Area 51 Experience Day”, which, as Student Council staff leader Ms. Forbes shared, provided students with an opportunity to showcase their version of the “Storm Area 51” phenomenon. 

“[On this day] students could choose to be an alien, army member protecting a government secret, astronaut, secret service, or anything along those lines,” Ms. Forbes explained.  “Although students complained at first, I was really impressed with some of the ideas they came up with.”

 With the competition comes the hope each student has in common: the chance to win the coveted Spirit Stick”.  As the tension of the week built to a crescendo, many students shared who they thought would win the pep rally. 

“I think the freshman [will win]. I think we’re gonna go all out,” stated freshman Rylee Vogelman. Fellow freshman Nicole Howe was even more certain. 

“The freshmen are definitely going to win.” 

While the freshmen were eager and confident, it was the juniors who were favored to win, even though the seniors typically claim the spirit stick without much of a fight.  As the week progressed, the juniors and seniors traded blows, sharing victories in the various class competitions – a race that led up to the infamous Friday pep rally. For the Poster Competitions, Coin Wars, and Theme Dress-ups, the juniors and seniors finished in first and second place, setting the stage for an ultimate show-down in the pep rally competition.

With the excitement of Spirit Week already abuzz, the pep rally began with the signature senior class entrance, marked by a martial arts presentation from senior Zachary Huang.  After this showing, the seniors took control of the week, dominating in each competition. From the classic Tug of War and Pirate Pride Chairs to Cannon Popping and Cinna Derby, the seniors edged out the juniors to take a commanding lead in the points total.  And while the competitions were won almost exclusively by the seniors, several underclassmen were skeptical of their victories – including a controversial overruling in the balloon popping competition. However, senior Adriana Pellegrino summed up the competition.

“We won.  That’s just how it happens.”

Ms. Forbes also echoed this sentiment, stating that her initial belief in a junior victory was disproved by a rousing senior performance.

“I was shocked that the seniors performed the way that they did,” Ms. Forbes shared. “I didn’t think they performed well last year, but I was happy to see them do well this year.”

While the pep rally was all about the seniors, the final point total proves that the week truly did come down to the wire.  The seniors finished in first place with 485 points; in second place were the juniors with 465 points; in third were the freshman with 335 points; and last were the sophomores with 330 points.