After last year’s MAGA incident with the spirit days, Perry stugo decided to give spirit days a break to work itself out. “We decided we needed to back off of spirit days” for the remainder of last year Kevin Ames wisely vocalized. This is because of the outburst of controversy due to the spirited students during the American themed day of spirit week last year. Not only did this make it to the local news, but it even made it to the national news creating major consequences for Perry. In an interview last year with the head of student government Mrs. Lerina Johnson, and student government president Brintley Spencer, Mr. Ames, who is the activities director, hinted at the startup of spirit days again this year. True to his word, spirit week is back this year and better than ever. 

Senior Brintley Spencer, the student government president, provides fresh information about spirit days in an interview. For this upcoming year, spirit days will not vary much in comparison to previous years. Nothing has changed in the entirety of spirit weeks. However, now there is a new depth to how spirit days are brought about. 

The creation of the spirit day themes is carefully planned out. The process starts with brainstorming ideas, which leads to voting and selection of the themes. Advocating for each idea is extremely important in this step due to the need for support in these decisions. Upon careful consideration the daily themes are finalized to contribute to the specific vision for the dance. Other parts that play into the formation of spirit week is the amount of participation anticipated, what most already have at home, in addition to the ability of a play on words.
“On top of showing support for their school, high school students with “school spirit” perform better academically, are more engaged in social and civic matters, and are happier in general than their less-spirited peers,” the National Federation of State High School Associations, also known as NFHS, explains. Their scientific experiment demonstrates the importance of participating in spirit week. Doing so brings unity and pride to the Puma nation. Spirit days have the opportunity to hype up students along with administration for the upcoming events happening at Perry as long as we participate in them. The effects of showing school spirit are beneficial in a majority of life’s aspects. 

The key to a successful spirit week is enthusiasm, and participation of the entirety of the student body. The bandwagon effect is an immensely important part to participation. “If you get your friends involved you feel more comfortable dressing up and participating” and “documentation of these events through pictures brings in a different kind of spirit and memory of high school,” Spencer expresses. If everyone gets their friends involved, then not only will they feel more comfortable, but more students will want to join the trend.

Spirit days open the door for a positive environment, an involved high school experience, and a fun way to connect with peers. They allow both students and faculty to express pride in their school community, being united with a single cause.