Brianna Jackson

School spirit-it’s how you show that you’re dedicated to and proud of your school. Here at Hamden we show our school spirit by a series of consecutive dress up days leading up to Thanksgiving Day. Then on Thanksgiving day, our Green Dragons play their rivals Notre Dame in the annual Green Bowl. This year our spirit days consisted of sports team or college apparel, we celebrated on Friday  with tie-dye and favorite color day. Monday we all got cozy in our flannel pajama pants and on Tuesday the students and teachers switched places. Wednesday we will finish with the school colors green, gold, and white. Also on Wednesday the school held an all day long pep rally, where the students played with the teachers in a game of basketball. This year the teams were intermingled instead of are usual way of having students against the teachers.

In my opinion the most spirited day for students was Wednesday. People were dressed head to toe in green and those who experienced the pep rally gave it their all. It was the best pep rally I’ve experienced in all of my four years here. More people performed and the crowd participation was amazing. We all jumped out of our seats for the performers and for the chance to win 2 prom tickets. We also did the wave numerous times.

Teachers outdid the students in every way this Spirit Week. I saw more teachers dressed on any given spirit day then students. This may be because most students claimed to not know the spirit days and the staff possibly received emails. Nonetheless it was astounding and refreshing to see teachers relaxed and joining in on our spirit day fun. The most spirited day for Teachers was definitely opposite day. The teachers got creative with baggy jeans, band tees, and of course headphones in their ears. Some teachers who stood out were  Mr. Perrotti and Mr. Migliori. I personally saw Mr. Perrotti on my way to seventh period and I honestly didn’t recognize that he was in disguise. My friends all mentioned how Mr. Migs looked exactly like one of the hockey jocks, but I unfortunately did not get to see for myself. It was truly refreshing to see the teachers take such pride in Spirit day, not to mention Mr. Gabriel, Mr. O’Connor, Mr. Orstad, and the non teaching staff who played in the annual pep rally basketball game.

School Spirit is an important part of our education. It’s the one week we as students and teachers get to come together to express ourselves in silly ways and show our love for this school, and who doesn’t love pajama day. We should definitely work on getting awareness of the spirit days. I dressed up everyday because I got an email from Doc Messiah but whenever I joked about the lack of school spirit, my classmates claimed to not know the specific days. We should make commercials advertising school spirit because lets be honest most kids don’t hear the announcements nor do they check the school website for them.