Pali’s students and staff wore an array of themed outfits to show their school pride: ranging from wearing VSCO attire to dressing as Adam Sandler. Students dressed up during the week of Oct. 13 for Pali’s Associated Student Body’s (ASB) Homecoming spirit week.
Pali’s Spirit Week features unique themed outfits and lunchtime events, all organized by ASB students behind the scenes.
ASB Senior Class President Alessandra Santini explained how the ASB class began planning Spirit Week months in advance in order to ensure its success.
“First, we delegate students to specific tasks and then they are able, and have the free will, to come up with whatever events after we come up with our themes,” Santini said. “We approve the [events] with administration, sign off an FMX form [a facilities request used to reserve spaces and equipment], create our events and do our cash box and bake sales. We get all that equipment and then post flyers. We make flyers for school, make posters and our last step is always to publicize.”
ASB’s main goal during Spirit Week is to keep school spirit alive by creating events that make students excited and engaged, Santini said.
“Even making posters takes a really long time, but we do it out of our will and happiness because we see amazing results from the students,” Santini said.
Santini explained how Spirit Weeks are a major part of how Pali builds school pride and connection.
“I think, coming [from] the perspective of ASB, we try and think of ways to engage our students and uphold spirit weeks and spirit at school,” Santini said.
ASB class advisor Robert King helps guide the students
the process of planning schoolwide events like Spirit Week to ensure everything runs smoothly.
“The ASB class is a student-run government class,” King said. “My role is to serve as an advisor to make sure that I can guide them through what works well and what can be a little tougher.”
One of the ways that King measures the success of Spirit Week is through campus engagement: specifically from the responses and reactions students and staff have.
“If I’m getting feedback, if I’m getting people saying things about [spirit week], that’s usually a good sign,” King said. “If people are noticing, it’s usually because something went well. And if I’m walking down the corridor and see absolutely nobody participating, maybe that wasn’t a good one. A lot of it is kind of ‘I know it when I see it.’”
Santini shared that ASB’s main goal this year was to rebuild school spirit following the transition to Pali South.
“It takes us almost two, three weeks in advance just to plan the days, to do the FMX forms, to get everything approved,” she said. “But we do it because we want to bring our school spirit back.”
