Spirit Week Review

By Josh Gischner

This year's spirit week had to be the greatest out of the three that I have experienced here at Suffern. We started off the week with a bang on Columbus Day, having a day off, and the week moved along to include halfcourt shots, an extended lunch that we'll never forget, and two amazing pep rallies.

The major goal of Spirit Week is the competition between classes for the Spirit Cup. Sponsored by the United Student Organization (USO), Spirit Week was definitly a success.

The first competition during the week was half court shots. Gym teacher Mr. McNally, along with History Teacher and USO advisor Mr. Gelb, explained the simple rules. USO membership chair Josh Gischner, and member Jared Roth helped keep order. Gelb marked down the only shot made, by student Justin Guzman (Junior), after the "shooting line" was moved closer to the basket as no one could make it from the original line. The juniors were the only class awarded points for this event.

The halfcourt shots were followed by an extended lunch with inflatable rides, popcorn given out by the freshman and sophomore classes, snowcones given out by the junior class, and new this year, cotton candy given out from the seniors. As always, the Gay Straight Alliance Club ran their booth with the very succsessful game, "Pin the Wig on Quig", based on History teacher and GSA advisor Mr. Quigley.

GSA member Carl Denlinger comented, "The GSA booth was awesome. I think we did a great job." Other booths included Aspira, the Art Honor Society doing face painting, the Woman's Issues Group, and the USO selling tickets for the Homecoming Dance, among many others.

The Extended lunch led into Friday (an "8" day) with two pep rallies held in the gym due to bad weather. The marching band, Assistant Principle Mr. Weeks, many teachers, USO advisor Mr Gelb, and the USO board were all present at the two events. The first pep rally was between the ninth and tenth graders during seventh period, and the second between the eleventh and twelth graders durring eighth. The USO board, along with help from various teachers, helped keep the fun going during both events, and helped keep them orderly. Playing for the Spirit Cup, the four grades played classic games such as "tug-of-war," and a new game called the "frozen t-shirt contest". During the later, teams have to "un-freeze" a frozen t-shirt to the point where the player could put it on.

Nearing the end of the Junior and Senior pep rally, Gelb declared the winner to be the Junior class. All the juniors in the room, spilled out of the stands, and trampled over anyone in their way as they cheered for their grade, caryying the Spirit Cup. Class of 2011 President Laura Cohen commented, "We were so thrilled when the juniors won the Spirit Cup! We knew we were capable of it after coming in second place last year to the Class of 2009. Every junior had tons of energy, from those who participated in the pep rally events, to those who wore green and cheered along. The Class of 2011 worked really well together and were full of school spirit.