A potato sack race. A human-sized hamster ball contest. A three-legged race combined with the goal of balancing an egg on a spoon.
These were the challenges part of a relay race faced by Palo Alto High School students on Day 3 of Spirit Week in Earl Hansen Viking Stadium.
Although the freshmen won the game at the rally, the seniors are still in the overall lead for the day, with 4600 points.
Here’s how the action went down: First, the seniors outpaced the sophomores and the freshmen beat the juniors in the first round of the relay race, advancing the winners to the finals.
In the championship face-off, the freshmen triumphed over the seniors, securing the victory. In the battle for third, the juniors came out on top, leaving the sophomores in fourth.
Kicking off the spirit rally, teachers surprised students by turning the football field into the stage for an exclusive dance performance to the song “Let Me Move You” by Sabrina Carpenter. Clad in yellow and black for the “Honey Mustard” theme, they energized the crowd for the day’s events.
Chemistry teacher Aparna Sankararaman took part in the teacher’s performance and said it was a worthwhile experience.
“Students notice when the teachers show up to spirit rallies and it’s very meaningful to them,” Sankararaman said. “I’ve had students come back and talk about my past dances. They can clearly remember it so it’s meaningful to me to go and dance.”
According to senior Tasman Johnson, today’s rally was particularly festive as a result of the high turnout, with the bleachers filled.
“It was a great spirit rally,” Johnson said. “There was a lot of enthusiasm from everyone. I saw there was an increased freshman crowd so that was good.”
According to freshman Maya Ratliff, seeing all her peers dressed up during Spirit Week and the rallies brings out everyone’s individuality.
“My favorite part of Spirit Week is the dressing up because it allows everybody to really authenticate themselves and make them special and unique to one another,” Ratliff said.
Sankararaman said Spirit Week as a whole is a great boost to student morale and solidarity.
“It seems to unify the student body,” Sankaraman said. “A lot of you start to identify people within your own grade level because you’re all dressed up in the same way with the same theme, so the school certainly feels like it’s moving as a unified body during spirit week more so than other weeks.”
The new Spirit Week scoreboard is as follows:
15,600 pts for seniors
12,800 pts for juniors
11,200 pts for sophomores
10,100 pts for freshmen
