Spirit Week at AMHS is one of the most iconic weeks and my favorite tradition. What sets Magnet’s Spirit Week apart from other schools is number 1 our school spirit, competitiveness, and dedication to the week. What we lack in size, we make up for in school spirit. At other schools, you are “weird” if you do dress up, but here if you do not dress up you are shamed for it. In my professional opinion, I don’t think any of our themes are too difficult to dress up for. You can usually get ideas from Pinterest if you are completely lost. Also think outside of the box, you do not always have to follow what everyone else is saying they are wearing. So I hope all of y’all dressed up this week for each day, cause if not, that’s weird. This week was just the first week of spirit week, but don’t worry young Raptors we have another week coming in 2024.

Our themes typically change every year for each spirit week. I always love the new and creative themes the student council comes up with every year. However, you young Raptors may not know that we have a few classics that repeat on the same day each week: Generation Day, Coachella Day, and of course Wall Day. The Seniors always spin off the themes and they are definitely creative. This is obviously my first year of participating in the spin-offs and I think ours this year are definitely my favorites, but I do have a few favorites from the last few years.

5. Bakers
This spin-off was really clever. Magnum Pi was one of our themes a few years ago and the seniors wore aprons and chef hats. Before this Spirit Day, I had no idea who or what Magnum Pi was, so I had to do my research when deciding my costume. I can only remember this theme happening once during my time at AMHS but it was really funny. The seniors went above and beyond with props too; I remember some of them carrying around whisks and mixing bowls all day. I believe there was a pie-eating contest in the courtyard for the activity of the day too. This was a funny spin-off but it’s not my favorite. Personally, I think I would be okay not participating in this spin-off this year.

4. Grease
This spin-off was last year’s senior spin-off for the Greek Life vs. Greek Gods Spirit Day. The seniors wore lots of leather, bandanas, sunglasses, pink ladies’ costumes, and slicked-back hair. I think this was a pretty good spin-off and I like how the outfits came together. Grease would be a fun actual spirit week day in the future. We could have a bubble gum-blowing contest or karaoke in the courtyard for the Grease activity. Just a thought for you student council leaders to keep in mind…

3. Jersey Shore
I LOVE the show Jersey Shore so when the Seniors did this theme I thought it was hilarious! The actual spirit week day was Jersey Day, so the underclassmen wore jerseys from their favorite, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college teams, etc., but the seniors dressed as characters from the show Jersey Shore. If you do not know what Jersey Shore is well you should definitely find out. Jersey Shore is one of the best shows ever and if you haven’t watched it, hop on Hulu, and start watching NOW! The seniors wore a lot of cheetah print, uggs, fuzzy boots, sheer tights, tattoos, and chains.  I hope that we will get to do this next Spirit Week because I would love to dress up as Snooki.

2. State Farm

This was such a great spin-off for Life on the Farm. This theme was also relatively easy for us to dress up for; wear a red shirt and khaki pants, and boom done. The “Hello My Name Is Jake” stickers were a nice touch too. Special thanks to Jordan Burrell for sharing her stickers during the Newspaper class on Monday. Although we do look a lot like target workers, seeing the sea of red coming into Building 8 from the Senior Lot Monday morning was really funny. I was giving a presentation in AP Lit and I looked out into the audience and saw a bunch of red shirt and started laughing.

1. Security

This Spin Off is an absolute classic for Spirit Week. Coachella, or this year Woodstock, is always on the Wednesday of the first week of spirit week, and the senior spin-off is always security. Señora Colon informed my 1B class on Monday that the original Woodstock festival did not have security guards there, so the security spin-off didn’t really work if you know the history of the festival. I’m not sure why this year we switched it to Woodstock after being Coachella for so many years in the past, but I digress. This spin-off is always funny because the Seniors give underclassmen “tickets” for not dressing up and standing by the front door in the morning and drawing on their hands. The seniors definitely fulfill their security responsibilities all day long, and make sure AMHS students are properly dressed to impress.

I hope all of you Raptors had an amazing first spirit week of the 2023-2024 school year. A review of each grade’s Wall Day theme for this week is coming in the next issue so stay tuned everyone!

As I have finished my second to last week of spirit week at AMHS, I am definitely sad. However, I am very grateful for the lifelong memories I have made and will continue to make during these special 8 weeks in my years at Academic Magnet. And to my young Raptors, please keep the tradition going. Spirit Week is a privilege and a fun way to relax while struggling through the rigorous course workload at Magnet. See y’all in the spring for the last spirit week for the class of 2024.