Paly students donned diapers, briefcases, canes, wigs, and walkers as they battled for the Spirit Week championship title for the fourth day this morning.
Toddlers, teenyboppers, sophisticates, and senior citizens crowded the small gym before school Thursday morning, launching verbal assaults and chanting retorts. Class cheer leaders rallied their sections as the decibel level rose in the gymnasium.
Alliances were formed and broken as classes strategically vied for points. The seniors received a frontal assault after yelling, "We won’t miss you," to which the lower three classes responded with "we won’t either." Sophomores, juniors, and seniors united by yelling "Freshmen Friday," directed to the freshman class corner.
Unlike the preceding class, this year’s seniors put together a united front, parading around the gym and facing each class in turn. However the senior class still did not prove to be overbearing this morning. Unexpectedly, the freshmen that filled one corner of the gym with pajama-clad toddlers outnumbered the other classes.
"I was surprised that there weren’t more seniors," said Allison Davies, the new Student Activities Director.
A few students even questioned previously held predictions that the seniors will clinch Spirit Week.
"The freshmen will win because they are very enthusiastic and have a lot of heart and drive to win," sophomore Jack Gale said.
The juniors, in the lead on Wednesday, proved strong in the morning as well as afternoon, but still did not manage to garner more attendance than the freshmen. Few teenyboppers (sophomores) filled the gym, dropping their score even further back in the running.
Weakest of all were the teachers, who, dressed as students, failed at mustering the level of noise reached by any of the other classes.
Overall the morning rally was successful. The rally offered a different venue for students and the focus of the event was on the class cheers, not activites.
"We already have afternoon rallies," Davies said, "so if we don’t have as much turnout in the morning it’s okay."
Some students feel that the half-hour morning rally is not as great an idea.
"There’s more time to do all the activities at lunch," said junior Peter Abrams.
Tomorrow, students will unite in wearing green for the final rallies of Spirit Week. After school, class floats will be brought out and the dances will be performed. The final points will then be tallied up and winners will be announced before the homecoming football game at 7:30 p.m. against Santa Clara.