Spring Fling Week

With the weather warming up and spring sports winding down, T.C. students are looking for interesting ways to enjoy the last months of the school year. Creative spirit days and exciting lunchtime contests were just a few of the activities that the leadership class had planned for the students and staff as the spring spirit week flung its way into the halls of the school. This string of days, leading up to the Spring Fling dance, gave T.C. students a chance to show off their class pride and their favorite Disney characters, as well as gave seniors a chance to flaunt apparel from the college they plan on attending in the fall.

“We wanted to have a different variety of days this time around to keep the students’ spirits high, and keep them wanting to participate,” said senior Samiha Mostafa. However, there was no traditional pep rally at the end of the week, due to the lost instructional time from the second winter break. The leadership class created lunchtime games that involved a student from each grade level, competing in events like eating contests where, for instance, students had to eat a doughnut off of a string without using their hands, and the winner received a Starbucks gift card.

“The doughnut contest was very interesting – it was funny to see everyone try and finish without using their hands,” said junior Paris Byrd. For the rest of the week, games like this entertained the staff and students during their lunch periods. In the midst of all the week’s activities, some T.C. students felt that while the spirit days were good ideas, the lack of advertising for the entire week kept them from participating.

“When I got to school I didn’t even know it was spirit week – until I saw the Disney day sign. It was a great idea, but if it were widely advertised more people would have done it,” said junior Kasey Kraft. Usually a week before spirit week, the leadership class creates posters and hangs them up in the cafeteria, explaining the theme for each day of the week.

“We make the posters during the leadership class, and we also announce it on TCW news, so that if some students don’t see the posters they at least hear the announcements during class,” Mostafa said. But even with these announcements, a number of students seemed to still miss out on what each day was supposed to be, like junior Lisa Toledo – who doesn’t eat lunch in the cafeteria and wasn’t able to see TCW news during the school day.

“I didn’t know about spirit week until the day before class spirit day, when I heard it on the P.A. announcements. But other than that I didn’t know about the other days,” Toledo said. Most students said they didn’t know about spirit week until they saw other students walking around school in their themed clothing. “I think that [the leadership class] should post signs around the school, and not only in the cafeteria, because not everyone sees them,” Kraft said. Even though Toledo and Kraft weren’t able to participate, they still felt as if the different spirit days were very creative, and they look forward to participating next year.

In simpler words, students need at least a week’s notice about important events like spirit weeks and school dances. Thankfully, the Spring Fling dance went off successfully, and hopefully next year’s spring spirit week will be better advertised so that everyone can participate.