Right before the students’ eyes was a giant yellow house. This giant yellow house was home to a giant obstacle course, filled with slides and climbing walls. As it was being inflated, many noticed Chabon walking around, looking smug. Many also noticed the school’s spirit team walking around, pretending to have contributed. Not many had expected this day to have come in the middle of a COVID pandemic, and many more never expected the school to have the budget.
Monday, October 11, 2021, marked the beginning of the College Preparatory School’s fabulous and long-awaited Spirit Week, an event so spectacular that even the seniors were blown away. (It is speculated that the spectacularity of this event was to make up for the pitiful virtual display that was last year’s Spirit Week.) During X-Block, students all around participated in the school carnival. Popcorn stands, snow cone machines, and the above-mentioned bouncy house were only a few of several eye-catching sights. Impatient lines extending far and wide waited eagerly for cotton candy while dirty shoes lay strewn before an inflatable boxing ring. There was even a second inflatable obstacle course! The carnival surely increased people’s expectations for next year!
Come Tuesday, a slightly less spectacular day for spirit, yet entertaining nonetheless. Many students across the grades dressed in their appropriate Disney costumes: the freshmen in Zootopia outfits, the sophomores as pirates, the juniors as Frozen characters, the seniors as the Incredibles (Spirit looked pretty snazzy), and the faculty in Ratatouille garb (unfortunately, no one dressed up as Remy). During lunch was the lip-sync battle, an event particularly good at giving us all second-hand embarrassment. Huddling together on the music lawn, students laughed, chatted, and jeered at their friends. To everyone’s surprise, a large number of groups performed (although, one sophomore later complained, “There were too many Frozen songs!”). Even the Womens’ Volleyball team made an appearance, skillfully bumping and setting balls back and forth. The victor of the battle, revealed the following week, were two triumphant seniors: Liam Jenny, who lip-synced, and Marius Mahshi, who sprayed water.
Finally came the first round of dodgeball: the seniors played the ever-so-spirited sophomores, and the freshmen battled the juniors. Sophomores lost gracefully in a greatly anticlimactic game. Kennedy Johnson, the last sophomore to stand, fearfully rolled balls back to her opponents, only to be hit a second later. As for the youngest grade, the freshmen fought hard but still yielded to the juniors. (Mind you, these juniors were placed fourth at dodgeball last year.) With the end of the game, students shuffled back to their classes and got ready for...
Wednesday! The long-awaited Tacky Tourist Day with the “Anything But a Backpack” Challenge. Surely, this was the most well-known theme of the week (other than Rally Day, of course), thanks to the announcements of the CPS Postal Service. Despite peer pressure, some students still actually showed up with a backpack. Nevertheless, there were some great backpack substitutions out there. One creative idea worth noting was the full-sized garbage can brought by no other than Diego Young (let’s go juniors!), which awarded him the 1st place prize. Wednesday also held the second round of dodgeball. The sophomores won against the freshmen, while the magnificent juniors had a victorious triumph against the seniors (who lost some of their best players to the ACT. One junior even said, “When Claire Beamer is playing on the dodgeball team, you know something isn’t right”).
On Thursday, students dressed up for Decades Day, the day students were forced to ask their parents for fashion advice. The freshmen dressed in 50s clothing, the sophomores the 60s, the juniors the 70s, the seniors the 80s, and the faculty in the 2000s. The school had lunch down at the gully, where students cheered as their friends played Capture the Flag. Sophomore Adele Beamer looked especially bitter at the sophomore loss to the seniors, grumbling, “I was the only one on offense!”
In addition to Capture the Flag was another round of dodgeball, played by the freshmen and sophomores. At one point, the freshmen only had one person left on their team. Yet just as the sophomores were closing in on him, freshman Julian Goor caught a ball! Screaming and shouting, the freshmen poured back into the field. The sophomores gave a collective groan as one by one their players were targeted. However, the tables had completely turned when sophomore, and CPS dodgeball star, Paige Scheinberg stood head to head against the freshmen. No one thought that as the ball came whirling towards Paige, the sophomores had a chance. Yet, just a microsecond after the ball landed on her chest (poof!), she caught it between her bloody legs! Sophomores, now screaming and shouting, rushed back onto the field to win the game. Fabulous, right?
Finally! THE ONE AND ONLY RALLY FRIDAY! It was no doubt the most exciting day of the week. Every grade did a spectacular job decorating their assigned buildings. The locker hall was filled with purple plates and tarps; the basketball court outside of the science building was decorated with balloons and posters; the music lawn was occupied by a giant blue fort, which strangely, included an inflatable children’s pool and a car; and the gym deck was entirely red, decorated with carpets, balloons, and beer pong cups. As the school settled into the gully, many noticed an empty plot of ground that the seniors usually occupied. All of a sudden, people decked in red leaped forward into a dance, grooving to Britney Spears’s “Womanizer,” as bodies rushed down the hill, running around in a red circle. Soon afterward came the relays, fantastically won by the freshmen. The lettuce eating contest was another thrilling competition to watch, the grades crowding around their respective tributes. Jordan Mayne Epps and Gardner Rees, representing the seniors and freshmen, respectively, had a tight match, provoking each other with mouths stuffed with lettuce. Finally, Jordan managed to swallow just mere seconds before Gardner. Meanwhile, poor Adie Guo of the sophomores hadn’t even finished half of her lettuce leaves.
Then came the artistic part of the Rally! All grades pinned their banners onto the side walls of the portables, and winners were announced shortly afterward. The seniors won without dispute (credits to Talia Rotman for the dazzling cougar). Next was the screaming competition. All classes gathered together gave their best effort when Dean Chabon came with the decibel meter. The results: the juniors and sophomores (even with the help of a cymbal) settled in 3rd and 4th place, respectively. The seniors and freshmen both also brought non-vocal devices as assistance. Unfortunately, the trombone brought by the seniors lost to the freshmen’s confetti cannon. Nevertheless, the seniors got a chance to end Spirit Week with a dodgeball match against the faculty (with some juniors attempting to redeem themselves by subbing in for some members)! And just like the past years, the faculty nobly lost.
Despite the difficulties of hosting a spirit week during the COVID pandemic, Student Council designed an absolutely marvelous Spirit Week. Everyone’s participation was crucial in the success of the event (so pat yourself on the back)!
Surely, everyone is (and should be) excited for the CPS Halloween festivities, and even more excited for our Radar article (coming soon)!
Display photo credit: Michael Chan