Northwest Academy Students Show Spirit

At most high schools, Spirit Week leads up to the homecoming football game, but at Northwest Academy there are no sports teams. Instead, the school uses Spirit Week to celebrate community and creativity.

“Our school centers around the celebration of creative expression, and dressing up in crazy outfits is just Monday for us,” Robbie Carver, high school activities coordinator and Northwest Academy teacher, said.

At Northwest Academy, the seniors organize Spirit Week. This year, seniors Molly Meier, McKensi Payne, Aaron Hollomon and Leah Carnahan-McGinley put together the themes for Spirit Week. Over the years, some Spirit Week themes, such as such as Pajama Day and Color Day, have become traditions. This year, the seniors added new themes, such as Throwback Thursday and ‘Merica Monday.

“We wanted some new days and some old,” Carnahan-McGinley said.

Among students, Throwback Thursday was one of the favorite days.

“I love how into it everybody was and the playfulness it brought to the classroom and the overall energy of the day,” Josephine Appleyard, a sophomore, said.

Spirit Week is also a competition among grades to see which class participates the most. However, there can be challenges with running Spirit Week and keeping it organized and fair.

“The most challenging aspect was the counting of participants for Spirit Week,” Carnahan-McGinley said. “We had trouble leaving our first block classes to count participants and sometimes disagreed about who should be counted for participation.”

A mix-up occurred during Color Day. A Facebook posting told sophomores to wear red while an email told freshman to wear red and sophomores to wear blue.

“I would definitely say that Color Day was the best,” Aden Qamar, a sophomore, said. “We had a pretty rad battle between grades. There was some confusion about what colors the sophomores and freshman were supposed to be. Overall, Spirit Week was fun and exciting.”

The senior class won Spirit Week by two points, and as their reward, they get out of a week of lunch cleanup.

At Northwest Academy, Spirit Week is a reminder that the school is rooted in the arts.

“What I love about Spirit Week is that it is a time when all of this individual creativity gets to coalesce into school-wide displays,” Carver said. “Seeing each student’s unique take on those themes is wonderful.”