Despite many accusations that Spirit Week is "fixed" so that the senior class wins every year, this year’s junior class managed to overcome several obstacles and win the school-wide spirit contest.
By placing second in the float and spirit dance competitions, the juniors were able to surpass the other classes, and in a surprise victory come into the lead for the first time all week just in the nick of time on Friday.
However it was not an effortless win. The Class of ’07 had to face a 40-point deduction for wearing non-approved pants, and difficulties regarding its float. Very few juniors showed up to float stuffing, making the finishing of the chest of "pirate’s booty" a race against the clock. On Friday, the completed float suffered even more when winds ripped apart the hand-painted backdrop.
The "Big-Apple" -themed sophomores proved themselves fierce competition in the lunchtime rallies and games, but they placed third in the spirit dance and a disappointing last place in the float competition, knocking them all the way down to third place.
The Gatorade freshmen obviously "had it in them," and were able to squeeze by the sophomores with the grandeur of their float. Although giving disappointing and poorly executed cheers at the lunchtime rallies, the freshmen gave a consistent effort throughout the week and were courteous to other classes. After finishing their first-place float at float stuffing they realized that the juniors would never finish on time unaided, so four freshman girls donated an hour of their time to helping the rival class finish. This generous act inspired some members of the junior class to yell a "Thank you, freshman!" cheer at the rally on Friday, although unfortunately the cheer could not be heard over the roar of the seniors.
The senior class of ’06, which also used a soft-drink for their theme, "Sprite," placed first in the spirit dance competition, however, they could not compensate for the alleged hundreds of points that were deducted for their notorious Herbology shirts and other non-approved apparel, and thus, came in last place.
However in senior Greg Murphy’s speech at Friday’s rally, he illustrated that although the seniors had lost Spirit Week due to the points lost from Herbology t-shirts, what mattered is that the senior class had made their voices heard. Their voices were certainly heard throughout the week chanting the most cheers of all four classes. Had the Herbology shirts been legal, the spirit dance-winning senior class would certainly have been a force to be reckoned with.
After winning Spirit Week this year, Paly can expect an even bigger display of spirit from the encouraged junior class at Spirit Week 2006.
"We really came together as a class, and came through in the end." junior class president Loretta Shen said. "I knew we could do it, even though everyone else had doubts,"