 | | | Acalanes High School seniors celebrate after winning the Oct. 6-10 Student Spirit Competition. Photos Gint Federas | | | | | | School spirit is an essential part of high school. "Spirit builds up the culture in our school," said Amy Oum, a senior at Acalanes High School in Lafayette. "It makes everyone feel involved and included."
Oum serves as the social secretary of the Associated Student Body, and is part of a leadership class comprised of 40-some students who serve on seven different boards governed by five senior officers. Oum has been in leadership class since her freshman year.
"I'd just changed districts and leadership was a great way to get involved," Oum said. From the very start she looked up to the seniors who served as officers of ASB. Oum hoped to someday make a similar impact herself.
She certainly seems to be living up to that dream - tweeting, texting, and helping to head the Student Spirit Competition that took place Oct. 6-10, the week leading up to Homecoming. During Spirit Week, students participate in dress up days, hall decorating, dodge ball games, skits and various other activities. Classes compete against one another, with points awarded for placement and participation. At the end of the week the winning class is announced.
This year that announcement was made by Don Tatzin, mayor of Lafayette.
According to Katherine Searing, instructional support teacher at Acalanes, the idea originated with the parents, but was taken hold of by ASB.
"We've never had the mayor come and present anything for us," said Oum with a smile on her face. In fact, the mayor had never come for any Acalanes event. If ever there was a time for an inaugural visit, this was it.
Following the final bell on Friday, Oct. 10, Acalanes held a rally, during which Tatzin presented the award for best skit. Later that evening, he announced the overall winner of Spirit Week following Acalanes' first-ever Homecoming Halftime Show. "We've been wanting to do this for a while," Oum said of the show. Keeping with this year's Disney theme, the show took the form of a Disney Parade in which all clubs, sports teams and classes were invited to participate. As they marched off the field, Tatzin marched on, holding the suspense before declaring the seniors the victors. Following the announcement, the stadium burst with a blur of blue powder and a chorus of cheers."
Spirit Week is just a part of the social activities, events and competitions that take place during the year at Acalanes. At the end of each year a Spirit Cup is awarded to the class with the highest level of participation. "The activities are designed to benefit the students," said Oum. "If we didn't have spirit, it would be a very dull campus."
You can view a video of the blue powder finale online in the story link "The Dons Have Spirit" at www.lamorindaweekly.com.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA