The most anticipated week of the year, Spirit Week, kicks off this Monday at Palo Alto High School with Theme Day.
On Theme Day, students from each grade dress up based on a theme voted on by their class. Each theme corresponds with each class’ color: orange for freshmen, red for sophomores, yellow for juniors and green for seniors.
This year, the freshman theme is “Eye of the Tiger,” the sophomore theme is “Firefighters,” the junior theme is “Boxing” and the senior theme is “Game Over.” Rather than wearing clothes that correspond to their theme, due to Paly tradition, seniors instead wear 90s apparel on Monday.
This year, Spirit Week festivities open at lunch on the football field with the lunchtime rally, which will feature three main events: Knee Trembler, Banana Bump and Pass the Water.
Knee Trembler, a new event to Paly Spirit Week, is a mini relay race consisting of three students from each grade. Using only their knees, students must pick up an orange and hop over to a hula hoop placed on the ground. Whoever has placed the most oranges in the hoop at the end of a minute will win.
Following the Knee Trembler game, the Banana Bump event will take place. This time, only one student from each grade will participate. The student will have a banana tied around his or her waist and must bump an orange, using the banana, past the finish line.
“The other new game is Pass the Water,” ASB Spirit Commissioner Michaela Fogarty said. “Participants line up and transfer water from one bucket to another by passing it to each other over their heads with cups. The grade with the most water in the final bucket wins.”
According to Fogarty, the results of the events are unpredictable.
“None of the grades are projected to win any of the games,” Fogarty said. “It should be very competitive and exciting to watch.”
In addition to the points awarded for the events, class cheers and scores for best dressed will award each grade with extra points. Cheers at each rally can earn up to 800 points for first place and up to 500 points for the best dressed contest.
Up to 150 points of deductions are possible for sportsmanship and cleanliness.
For more information on lunchtime rallies and the Spirit Week scoring system, refer to the ASB master schedule. And don’t forget to use #palyspirit on all of your social media posts for a chance to have it featured on the Paly Voice website.