Spring spirit week, a popular tradition at Townsend Harris High School, was commemorated in person for the first time in two years from Monday, May 23 to Friday, May 27. Featuring new proposals sent in an email by Coordinator of Student Activities Nicole Gleizer, this annual week of festivities offered Harrisites the opportunity to celebrate the end of AP season by tapping into their creativity and displaying their school spirit through various outfits. To encourage participation, the Student Union hosted a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card giveaway, where students posted pictures of themselves dressed up for each themed day and tagged the THHS Student Union Instagram account. Students and staff members alike participated in the 2022 Spring Spirit Week, celebrating both in person and on social media.
THHS Pride Day
Following Spirit Week tradition, Monday was Townsend Harris Pride Day. Students donned school colors, sports jerseys, and other THHS apparel to showcase their school spirit. “It was…nice seeing what everyone was involved with during the year,” said senior Marykate Wee. Junior Jesse Lawson shared a similar sentiment, saying, “It felt pretty nice, like everyone was one big family.”
Anything But a Backpack
Coolers, shopping carts, and candy boxes were all examples of students’ out-of-the-box approaches to the newly introduced “Anything but a Backpack Day.” Sophomore Olivia Wong, for example, brought a Home Depot bucket to school, and said of her fellow participants, “It was really fun to see how creative and silly other peoples’ bags were.”
Character Day
Similar to Costume Day during the Spirit Week in fall of 2021, Character Day encompassed different characters from any pop culture phenomenon. Along the theme of this year’s school musical The Little Mermaid, Jesse dressed as a seagull. “It was kind of special as I got to see everyone’s creativity,” he said. Sophomore Abigail Chang dressed as the titular protagonist Howl from Studio Ghibli’s 2004 animated film Howl’s Moving Castle, and said that her favorite part of the day was “seeing friends who wear more relaxed or casual clothes [come] to school dressed up.”
Decades Day
Thursday was Decades Day, where students had the opportunity to dress up in the fashion styles of their favorite decade. Some popular ideas were neons from the ‘80s, flared pants from the ‘90s, or low-rise jeans from the 2000s. “I thought this was a super fun way to make use of my closet and use a wide variety of items that I normally [wouldn’t] use,” said Olivia. Sophomore Ravneet Kaur said, “I liked to dress like this because it let me ask my mom what kind of clothes and styles she grew up with, and it was a great bonding moment.”
Twin Day + Easter Egg Hunt
Following traditional Spirit Week rituals, the last day of THHS’s Spring Spirit Week was Twin Day, a day in which students and faculty alike were encouraged to dress in matching clothing with a partner. Sophomore Abby Schwartz, who coordinated with her friends for Twin Day, said that “this day was fun to plan and also [fun to] do with other people.” However, Twin Day was not the only activity planned for Friday; Ms. Gleizer also previously announced in her email to the student body that the Student Union had hidden Easter Eggs around the school building that contained candy, treats, and, on lucky occasion, gift cards.
Spring Spirit Week is a core THHS tradition that many students had previously only been able to participate in virtually due to the pandemic-induced period of remote learning that students endured for more than a year from 2020 to 2021. “I like the in-person Spirit Week more [than virtual,]” Abby said. “I think a lot more people participate in it and it’s fun to see other people dressing up.” Jesse agreed with Abby in that an in-person Spirit Week created stronger connections between students: “It felt like a closer community,” he said. “Everyone was getting involved.”
Photo by Jasmine Palma
