October 31st to November 5th will be Air Academy High School’s Spirit Week leading up to Friday night’s Black Light Dodgeball game! Spirit Week is a chance for students to dress up in fun and unique outfits that are not typical everyday wear. This gives students an activity they can look forward to while learning regularly in classes.

The Student Council is behind this year’s spirit week and dodgeball game. The Student Councils’ process of creating a spirit week includes several meetings for planning and coming up with themes. Along with a presentation to AAHS principal, Mr. Daniel Olson, to get each idea approved, they hang fliers and publicize their ideas with posters throughout the school and in the afternoon announcements. Asking students of AAHS how they viewed spirit week, a general consensus was that spirit week gives students something to look forward to.

“I enjoy spirit week very much. I love planning outfits to match my friends for each day. It’s also an excuse to wear glitter to school,” sophomore Gabi Bean shared.

This is an example of how students are able to personalize outfits to each theme. While everyone follows the same theme, no one fully looks the same because you’re able to add your own touches to whatever you’re wearing.

“School is something that I don’t always look forward to, so spirit week makes me excited to go,” Bean explains. 

When speaking to Bean, she really emphasized that spirit week gives her an extra push to want to go to school rather than any other day. This could be relatable for other students that struggle with wanting to attend school.

“I don’t always participate in spirit week, however, when I do I notice that the school day is a little bit more exciting,” sophomore Noah Vujcevic said.

Even though students may not always dress up, they can find joy in others who do. Students who dress up, however, may notice that it adds something extra to their day rather than when they don’t.

“I usually dress up when there is a theme I really enjoy or if my friend group all decides to dress up,” sophomore Will Graham stated.

Students are typically driven to dress up when a theme connects to their interests, which is why the Student Council has to pick trendy and fun themes. This can be difficult because they want to give a theme that will set apart our school from others. Spirit Week also seems to be driven by people you’re close to also participating.

This probably stems from the feeling of fear. When the majority of students dress up it makes people more prone to dressing up since everyone is doing it. Compare this to when only a few people dress up because then it feels as if you may be the only one dressed up. However, from speaking to students of AAHS, it seems that this school is very involved with spirit day with the leading majority of students dressing up.

With all of this in mind, spirit week gives students a way to be excited to attend school along with being able to match with their friends or even dress up in their own unique theme!