Spirit Week began on Monday, October 7 and ended on Friday, October 11, building excitement for the Homecoming Dance.
This year’s Spirit Week was two weeks later than last year’s when the events fell at the end of September.
SGA Co-Moderator Allison Hall said this was positive because “freshmen were able to have a bit more time in school, and students were able to have more time to prepare.”
On Monday, the week started strongly with a holiday theme. Each grade was assigned a different holiday.
Grade levels voted on their preferred holidays. The 4th of July was originally not an option on the ballot due to the political nature of the upcoming election. However, seniors provided the administration with strong arguments as to why that holiday should be included.
Monday’s special event was an Advisory Block Party where students could visit other advisories to see friends and eat food.
Sophomore Kate Grovich said, “I liked the Advisory Block Party because I could get food from other rooms.”
The second day of Spirit Week was Class Color Day in which students wore class t-shirts.
Tuesday also included the Powderpuff Game between the junior and senior girls; the seniors won 36-6. During halftime, there was a goal- kicking competition between sophomores and freshmen girls.
Junior Julia Dominick said, “My favorite Spirit Week theme was Class Color Day because it was really cool to see all the classes being proud of their colors and representing their grades with all kinds of accessories.”
The third day of Spirit Week was Celebrity Day. On this day, students could dress as their favorite celebrities.
English teacher Sherri Woosley said, “Celebrity Day was my favorite because Izzie Parrish dressed as me. I was shocked and delighted to find another set of twins in the Woosley family.”
The fourth day of Spirit Week theme was Age Day.
Mrs. Hall said that while Age Day is not one of the preset dress days like Class Color and Black and Gold Days, Age Day seems to have become a tradition. “Age Day has had one of the top votes for the last several years. Seniors look forward to dressing up as senior citizens.”
Thursday included an extended advisory for the Quiz Bowl competition between an All-Star Teacher Team and the Academic Team. The teachers won the competition 280-40.
Thursday included a ring hunt during five different mods. Students who found the ring won Amazon gift cards.
“Dr. Davidson and I start looking for places to hide the ring at the beginning of the school year. The challenge is to hide the ring in common places that may not be too obvious,” explained Mrs. Hall.
The final day of Spirit Week was Black and Gold themed and included the pep rally, in which offered different types of games for athletes and coaches to participate.
“Credit for the pep rally really goes to Mrs. [Tricia] Giuffrida, Mr. [Nathan] Nocket, and Mrs. [Hannah] Roy. They did an awesome job putting the games together and making sure things kept moving,” explained Mrs. Hall.
Business Teacher Christopher Scannell commented, “The last day when everyone was dressed up in John Carroll gear was my favorite because it was kind of like a Dress Down Day, but everyone was just supporting the school. That one just really stood out to me.”
The Homecoming Football Game took place Friday against St. Vincent Pallotti High School. The Patriots lost 6-3 in overtime.
On Saturday night, over 900 Patriots and their guests attended the Homecoming Dance with the theme of “Under the Sea.” The event was held in the Upper Gym, the cafeteria, and the courtyard.
Reflecting on Spirit Week and future themes, freshman Peyton Straub said, “I really hope that they will bring back the Country vs. Country Club theme; I want to experience it at least once.”
Overall, Mrs. Hall said that she and Co-SGA Moderator Anthony Davidson thought the week went really well. “For seniors, this was their final Homecoming and Spirit Week. For freshmen, this week included new experiences. We hope that students from all four grades will take away great memories of the days and the dance.”