When Dr. Liza Sejkora took over as principal this year at Camas High School, one of her goals was to get spirit days more “spirited”. Spirit days are when students and staff get together to show their school spirit by collectively dressing in a certain theme. Some students and staff really enjoy the idea of spirit day while others do not care for it.
There are some students and staff who really love the idea of spirit day and lead the way anytime there is a chance to show spirit. For example, math teacher Mrs. Lori Leighton says, “I do like spirit days because it’s fun to bring a goofy atmosphere to our days here.” Additionally, CHS Principal Sejkora said, “ I especially liked when staff dressed up for the toilet paper dodge during the assembly last fall.” Also, Freshman James Lee said, “ I really like to see when the school shows spirit by having assemblies or dressing up.”
However, students and staff have some ideas that could make some students and staff even more interested in the event. Dr. Sejkora contributed one idea: having class competitions for spirit days with some cool reward at the end. Mrs. Leighton said that, when she first got here, “the spirit was crazy good.” However, she feels like the school spirit has slowed down a bit over the years. She does have a few recommendations to help bring back the spirit though. She proposed that leadership students should dress up a week before spirit days and parade around the school to different classrooms to show students how to dress. This could potentially make students more comfortable or knowledgeable about spirit week. Freshman Cole Allen said, “maybe going around and having little games so you can earn candy or something would be cool.”
Some of the students that are not taking part in the event have a couple reasons why. A few students shared that they do not like getting all dressed up and that the event is just not very exciting to them. Sophomore Michael Windom said, ” I just really dislike dressing up; it seems a little extra to me.” Some students just forget by staying up late with homework or having a lot of extracurriculars. Freshman Armand Nunez said, “I want to do it, but I have all these others things I have to worry about, and I forget to participate.
Having spirit days is a way of bringing the school together. At the moment, the ASB decorates the halls with each grade’s colors, has assemblies where students arm wrestle, and dress from head to toe in their class’s color. But bringing new ideas to the table could rekindle the flame for school spirit and amp it up to what it used to be.