Homecoming week is one of the most treasured events for East students, and Spirit Week is something anyone can participate in. Every year, homecoming spirit week is enjoyed by many students, and it gives them the opportunity to tap into their creativity. This year’s homecoming spirit week themes included Class Color Day, Teacher-Student Swap Day, Dress as your Decade Day, Hawaiian Day and Orange and Black Day.
This year, our Class Color Day, a favorite among students (Sophomore-Senior), was well represented at the annual Homecoming Assembly at East. Many students chose to participate in the festivities and unite with their classmates. Student Council President, Hailey Kaliski, who participated in Class Color Day, shared her thoughts on who will win the spirit stick this week, “Seniors. Seniors always win the spirit stick.” A poll of other students supported her theory, with another saying it was “rigged”. A poll taken of students from every grade shows that Class Color Day beats Orange and Black Day as a favorite 13 to eight.
The second day of Spirit Week was Teacher-Student Swap Day. Ashley Zima—a choir teacher at East—shared her thoughts on this theme and how she chose the student she inevitably swapped with, “It was the one I was looking forward to most this week. I tried to think of a student who had kind of a consistent style. The only thing I couldn’t do was (redacted’s) hair. I thought about putting up my hair in a bun today, a messy bun,” she said.
The third day of Spirit Week, Dress Your Decade Day, had many funky outfits. The most creative look I saw was represented by the Senior class, thanks to Vince Minaglia. He wore “…an MCR shirt from Hot Topic, a white undershirt, studded belt from Hot Topic, jeans, maroon Vans and wired earbuds.” When asked about how he came up with his outfit, he said, “I just went to Hot Topic and then I got the shirt and then this is like most of what I usually wear, other than the eyeliner and the black hairspray.” I then asked why he chose that specific look from the 2000’s and he replied, “Because when I think of 2000s, I think emo.” The look was one of the coolest ones I saw over the entire week.
Hawaiian Day was our fourth Spirit Week theme. Dorothy Hocker, another senior at East, portrayed this theme with a masterful vision. When asked about her outfit, she said, “I’m wearing the teacher Hawaiian shirt from [the] 2024-2025 [school year], the green and orange one.” When asked how she acquired this shirt, she said, “A teacher gave it to me because I asked, [and] because it’s really ugly and I think it’s really funny.” Her outfit was beautifully hideous due to the nastiness of the 24-25 teacher shirt, yet she pulled it off with grace.
The final day of Spirit Week festivities was Orange and Black Day. We always have our Orange and Black competition for who will ride in the competition float. Of course, there is also the football game that people dress up for. Today I decided to interview the senior winner of the Orange and Black contest, Sam Zimmerman, and asked about the concept behind his costume. And he said, “Since it was decades and the theme was kind of music as well, I was thinking ‘hey, I mean, Elvis was a big icon during the 70s.’” His orange and black Elvis outfit was a true showstopper at the competition. Every part of his costume was well thought out, from the disco ball necklace and the orange sunglasses to the split dyed orange and black hair.
The students here at St. Charles East love Spirit Week. The themes were all done with incredible dedication. The hallways were packed with beautiful and well-themed outfits that expressed the creativity of both the student body and staff.
