Each year at Park wouldn’t be truly underway without homecoming week or as the students call it ‘Spirit week’. Spirit week is the week leading up to the homecoming football game on that Friday and the homecoming dance on Saturday. The week is filled with fun entertaining activities every day. The festivities feature the pep feast which is planned and run by the student council.
Student council advisor Mrs. Rennhak said the student council has planned many fun things for spirit week, as well as adding new free swag for students. She explained there will be many exciting activities before the football game Friday night.
“We’re having a movie on the field on Tuesday night. We are going to have a parade and food truck tailgate after school on Friday to get into the spirit for the football game and then the dance on Saturday as well as the pep fest during Park connections on Wednesday,” Rennhak said. “Something new we’re adding this year is giveaways every single day. So this morning, we gave away like pride pencils. We have some other stuff we’ll be giving off throughout the week, and some treats.“
Junior student council member Ethan Yakes said spirit week planning has been a long journey. He is happy with what they have been able to accomplish after the slow start.
“Our first meeting was basically as soon as school started, and that’s when we started planning for homecoming week,” Yakes said. “It was a little rocky at the start, but I think we managed to really pull it together.”
According to senior Estella Hughes, students should follow the spirit week dress codes due to the enjoyment they bring to the school. She said she always does them and thinks they are great.
“I participate because I’m a senior, and I feel like I should and because it’s kind of fun,” Hughes said. “I think other kids should participate too because it makes it more fun and you can take cute pictures with your friends which I always enjoy.”
According to Yakes the club is very enjoyable and he is happy to be a part of the special club. He likes working with the other members.
“My favorite part of the club is the group of people,” Yakes said. “I mean, it’s a nice group of people, and I like hanging out with my friends.”
Hughes said the pep fest was decent and she enjoyed the volley game, however she wasn’t a big fan of the newly added tug of war event. She thought it was cool to see the teachers and the students go head to head in a competitive way.
“The pep fest was okay, the tug of war could have been cut short or done better, but it was interesting, ” Hughes said. “The volleyball game was kind of fun, students and teachers pitted against each other.”
According to Rennhak the reason for having so many activities during the week is to provide opportunities for people to be involved in spirit week. She thinks the large events that they have are well liked
“Not everybody can attend all of the events, but we still want to celebrate with as much of the student body as possible,” Rennhak said. “The football game and the dance are normally very popular. The tailgate has been a relatively new tradition that we started, and that’s really popular with community members. We get a lot more families showing up to them.”
