Maxwell Zhang

Junior vocalist and guitarist Clay Cudahy jams out with his fellow “Strother Field” bandmates. The performance on the Quad marked the final day of Senior Spirit Week and one of the last school events for the graduating seniors. According to senior Burton Liu, the week is a great way to foster a stronger bond to the school and his classmates. “I think that [Senior Spirit Week] brings together the school community since you see your friends and classmates dressing up, and you can socialize,” Liu said.

A loud crash cymbal sounded the end of Senior Spirit Week, a week-long event comprised of dress-up days, culminating with a performance by the Palo Alto High School student band “Strother Field” Friday at lunch on the Quad.

This year, Senior Spirit Week was defined by a plethora of dress-up days with themes ranging from “Dress as Your Type” to “Anything but a Backpack” to, finally, the classic “Camo + Jersey” day. According to senior class president Bella Nguyen, there were plenty of unique activities for the students to attend. 

“The first two days we were going to run a Spikeball [tournament], but we ended up just bringing the Spikeball nets out for people to play,” Nguyen said. “On Thursday, we wrote letters to our future selves, and that’s gonna be handed back out to all of the students at the 10-year reunion that we’re gonna plan.” 

Though not many students dressed up on Tuesday, the spirit quickly got rolling, and most of the seniors were dressing up by the end of the week after finishing their first rounds of final exams. Senior Neta Gal said the week was a great way to relieve stress from the upcoming Advanced Placement and final exams in May.

“I think having a Spring Spirit Week is nice because it’s a stressful time for everyone, and it’s a good way to destress and have something fun and non-academic to look forward to,” Gal said.

To cap off Senior Spirit Week, and as a last hurrah before sending the seniors off to college, the band “Strother Field” — composed of drummer Dexter Cleveringa, senior guitarist Maximilian Rabbitt-Tomita, junior vocalist/guitarist Clay Cudahy, junior vocalist Chantal Herath and senior bassist Nate Richards — performed for more than 50 students during lunchtime on the Quad. The students played four originals titled “Crumb,” “Still Montana,” “Man” and “Pilk,” as well as a cover of the song “Shoot the Singer” by Pavement. These songs were successful with the crowd, and loud applause could be heard between each tune.

Even though the week was a success, some people still had reservations about the events. According to senior Burton Liu, ASB could have added new events that would have made the week even more interesting.

“I think they should make [Senior] Spirit Week into a game,” Liu said. “Maybe they could give everyone a Nerf gun and play some type of senior assassin.”

Nguyen said Senior Spirit Week was intended as one of the final senior-only bonding events before graduation.

“We [ASB] just wanted to create events that would bond our senior class a little bit more before we disperse to our separate paths,” Nguyen said. “These are just activities and spirit days to unify our class a little more.”