Last week, Harrisites spent the days leading up to Founders’ Day participating in a series of themed days designed to encourage school spirit. With Halloween on a Monday, the week began with lots of costumes and ended, as is tradition, with the formal dress students wear to attend the Founders’ Day ceremony in Colden Auditorium.

Jaime Baranoff, Coordinator of Student Activities and Social Studies teacher, announced this year’s themes. Monday was Halloween/costume day, Tuesday was twin day, Wednesday was country vs country club day, and Thursday was pajama day (changed from the initial plan of “Adam Sandler day”).

Student Union members played a key role in proposing and selecting the themes for each day.

“We created a suggestion form, shared it with our senators, and filed through their submissions,” Junior Class President Hellen Oliveira said. “We looked for the most recurring suggestions and chose those as this week’s themes.”

SU Vice President (and Editor-in-Chief of The Classic) Kate Estevez said, “It’s always tough to make days for Spirit Week because we want to be original while making sure everyone enjoys the days.”

Senior Class President (and Classic Features editor) Benjamin Babayev was most excited by the addition of “country vs. country club day,” which encouraged students to dress either in outfits straight out of a Western or those seen for a day at an upscale club. “It is a new theme we have never done before,” Benjamin said. Nonetheless, he said twin day remains his favorite “because [he is] a twin.”

Students shared their thoughts on the creative outfits their peers came dressed in.

“You got to see everyone in their spooky outfits on Halloween,” senior Nicole Chen said. “More than that, it was a day we could relax and wear what we want without any societal constraints or anyone looking at us weirdly and making us feel out of place.”

“I put a lot of effort into my outfit and spent a lot of time making it perfect,” sophomore Vee Shupty said. “I even painted my shoes and shirt. I loved seeing all the costumes. I especially love ridiculous ones. Some guy was dressed as a shark — those inflatables from Amazon — and I loved it.”

Discussing pajama day, junior Prisye Johnson said, “You just get to wear what you are comfortable with in school. Also, a lot of people are unintentionally matching and that’s really fun to see. The only hard part is staying awake.”
“I can never pick a favorite Spirit Week day,” sophomore Justin Chin said. “I am excited to see all of them play out in their unique ways.”

Perhaps the only costumes to go beyond Spirit Week were those worn throughout the week and into today by Election Simulation candidates, who campaigned in character throughout the final week and held their candidates debate on Wednesday. With Spirit Week ending last Friday, voting for the Simulation is now going on, bringing two Townsend Harris traditions to a close for the fall semester.