The Palo Alto High School freshman class is looking to improve its Spirit Week performance with better organization after Theme Day left the 9th graders more than 150 points behind the other three classes.

During Monday’s rally, the freshman class ended the day with 370 points, 150 behind the third place juniors. The freshman got last place in every event, and attendance at the rally from the grade was poor.

Many freshmen are questioning why and how their grade got off to a worse start than the other grades, even in comparison to the freshmen class last year. Some freshman blamed the results on a lack of spirit and participation.

“We didn’t really have much spirit,” freshman Brendan Sperling said. “Some people didn’t know what to dress up as.”

Freshman Paige Burns also pointed to insufficient enthusiasm in the freshman class.

“I turn around and I see most of the girls are cheering and helping support the people doing stuff,” Burns said. “But a lot of the guys are sitting down and they think they’re too cool to do anything.”

Another major factor could be disorganization in the grade, according to a number of other freshmen. The class does not have a means of communication between the students that is widely used by the whole grade, such as the Facebook groups used by other classes.

“A lot of people didn’t really know much about the rallies, like me,” freshman Cole Hechtman said. “I didn’t really know where we were.”

However, the issues may have only been a matter of Day 1 confusion. During Tuesday’s Salad Dressing Day rally, the freshmen class attendance was significantly better and the class participated in trading cheers with the other classes.

Many freshmen remain committed to improving their class’s standings, including freshman Carson Cordova.

“We should work harder to achieve our potential greatness,” he said.