During the last week of October, Townsend Harris High School held it’s annual Spirit Week which encompassed the Pep Rally, Hallway decorating, Twin Day, Pajama Day and a massive amount of school spirit.
The Pep rally, an event sponsoring the PSAL sport teams at THHS, marked the beginning of this year’s Spirit Week. As fellow Harrisites dressed in crimson and gold, athletes held a performance for the student body in the gymnasium during 8th band.
Senior Monira Hasan, a member of the Girl’s Cross Country Team, spoke on behalf of the track team’s pep rally. “We all had a great time showcasing our efforts as a team as we were coordinated in outfits and moves. Overall, we had a lot of fun which was the most important part.”
The school’s Spirit Week tradition of hallway decorating still remained intact as grades 9 through 12 decorated their halls in blue, orange, yellow, and green, respectively. The results were as follows: seniors took first place, juniors took second, sophomores took third, and freshmen took fourth place.
Junior grade leader Kathy Ling says, “The outcome was pretty predictable… This is not to discourage anyone though! The longer you’ve been at the school, the more experience you have in what works and what doesn’t for hall decorating.”
Senior Jin Hua Li says, “I thought the other grades really invested effort into the event. The freshmen did a great job with their centerpiece. I’ve seen more decorated hallways before but I’m not disappointed entirely either.”
Freshmen Julia Xia, who was unable to partake in this year’s Hallway decorating, says, “I think the seniors did a really great job. It sort of motivates me to help decorate next year.”
Although each grade successfully competed in this year’s hallway decorating, there was conflict amongst the student body. Decorations on sophomore and junior halls had fallen the following day and many were skeptical about the role the senior grade played in this.
Senior grade leader Marina Aweeda reacted to the disputes saying, “There were a lot of conflicts because the juniors were accused of starting early and so on and so forth. The sophomores were looking for a reason to compensate for their hallway and blamed it on the seniors.”
Senior Marina continued to explain the miscommunication between the grades. “I understand that they saw people taking stuff down but those people were sent by the leadership class and Ms. Oberlander because the decorations were falling.” Nevertheless, senior Marina ended on positive note, saying, “Overall, everyone did a great job and it’s not an easy task to accomplish.”
Sophomore grade leader Afeefah Anwar also had a fair stance on the issues of hallway decorating. “Personally, I didn’t see anything happen, and logically, our floor was nothing compared to [the seniors] and the juniors… A lot of our decorations did fall off, but that is due to the supplies,” says Afeefah. “The seniors may or may not have anything to do with it, but honestly who would go around pulling off pretty decorations?”
Student Union president Alex Chen also builds on the problem of miscommunication that had sparked the conflict between the grades. “The underclassmen reaction wasn’t baseless, but the main problem was the lack of understanding between the leadership class and the grades,” says Alex. “It is best to be informed about something before you lash out and accuse, but the pride that the grades have for the work they accomplished is very admirable.”
Freshmen and Sophomore grade president Max Kurant spoke of Spirit Week as a whole saying, “[It] allowed us to really come together and to be proud of our school and its many accomplishments, perfectly ending with Founder’s Day to wrap it all up.”
THHS celebrated its annual Founders day on the last day of Spirit Week, where Harrisites dressed formally and celebrated the finding of Townsend Harris at the Colden Auditorium. Freshman Emily Tan says, “The keynote speakers were interesting and the senior skit was funny, especially the Dr. Mazza impersonation.”
Freshman Julia Xia also gave her opinion on her first Founder’s Day saying, “I expected it to be just people standing and making speeches… But, I think the best part was when you took pictures with your friends afterwards, despite the cold temperature.”
With every Spirit Week held at Townsend Harris thus far, each grade was able to showcase their school pride while giving back to the community with food and money that was donated to various charities. The SU board is commemorated for managing the Food Drive that each Harrisite made an attempt to partake in. It’s safe to say that the Townsend community was able to fulfill its pledge of leaving the city “greater than we found it.”
