Homecoming spirit week

Tutus. Face paint. Bandanas. Trips to Party City. Days of planning. All of these things became a major part of sophomore Elijah Johnson’s homecoming spirit week experience.

Johnson dressed up for each day- Monday’s “senior citizen day,” Tuesday’s “bikers vs. surfers,” Wednesday’s “on Wednesdays we wear pink,” Thursday’s “throwback day” and Friday’s “school spirit day,” spanning from Monday, Oct. 24 to Friday, Oct. 28.

“Last Saturday I started getting all of my materials ready, but they’ve always taken a day or two to plan,” Johnson said, referring to his outfits for the week.

Johnson considered his most spirited outfit to be Wednesday’s “on Wednesdays we wear pink.” He was decked out in everything pink from the pink cowboy hat down to the pink tutu. This nod to the teen comedy Mean Girls brought in a lot of spirit week participants.

“I got possessed by the Mean Girls spirit, and I decided to wear what I’m wearing,” Johnson said.

This commitment to the theme is a recent development for Johnson.

“Thinking back on it, I was a stupid freshman. I kind of regret not participating last year. I feel like I took everything for granted,” Johnson said.

Johnson uses spirit week as a way to make as many memories as he can this year.

“I need to make this year count,” Johnson said. “I have so many friends graduating, I need to make as many memories as possible.”

His friends graduating isn’t the only changes he’s concerned about- the changes to Bellaire rules and administration are another motivator for him to make this year count.

“So much is at risk,” Johnson explained. “So honestly, I just feel like it’s like one of my priorities to really try to keep the Bellaire community. We lost our principal. We might lose our lunch. There’s so many things that make Bellaire unique. Spirit week is just one of those weeks where the Bellaire community really comes and becomes a whole.”

Spirit week was not originally planned with the themes used during homecoming week- after the Student Council’s spirit week announcement, the Black Student Union created their own spirit week, pitched by senior Winter Phenix. Student Council’s spirit week originally consisted of Monday’s “twin day,” Tuesday’s “color war,” Wednesday’s “pj day,” Thursday’s “throwback day” and Friday’s “red and white day”. BSU’s spirit week themes were more accepted by the student body than the one previously put out by STUCO. Eventually, after seeing the opposing student responses to the two themed weeks, the two clubs joined forces and officially used the spirit week themes made by BSU as the school-sponsored spirit week.

“We didn’t like that it was the exact same spirit week themes as last year’s,” Phenix said. “I saw more [student body] approval in BSU’s spirit week,” Phenix said.

Seniors Winter Phenix and Amy He, Phenix representing BSU whilst also being in STUCO and He representing STUCO, sat down to make this club collaboration become school-sponsored.

“I’m a member of STUCO, so I had a very long talk with our president Amy He to make this week happen,” Phenix said.

The planning and commitment to the theme helped contribute to the ultimate goal- school spirit.

“Spirit week adds to building up for the game and dance,” freshman Audrey Cheng said. “It makes the days leading up to the dance more fun and it’s fun to see all of the costumes. I think it gets everyone more excited and ready for homecoming,”

The week also had a different meaning for seniors. Winter Phenix saw her senior year spirit week as more fun than the previous spirit weeks.

“It was a bittersweet moment,” Phenix said.