THS Spirit Week Skits are being replaced with the popular late-night game show Family Feud. This event will take place on the 27th of November on a Wednesday.
This big change in the Spirit Week event begs the following question: Are the voices of Triton’s students going to be represented in a similar, humorous manner? Staff already has some things to say regarding the event
¨It’s going to be so much fun¨ said Mrs. Cheryl Wotton, Special education teacher and class of 2025 advisor.
Triton’s Spirit Week, Nov. 19-28 this year, has been home to many cherished events meant to reinforce and celebrate Triton’s community throughout the years. The grade levels battle it out to see what class can collect the most points by the end of the week. Grades accumulate points from their participation in dress-up days, performance in the class games, decorating tack boards in the upstairs hallway, and decorating the stands in the gym. All of these are meant to spark friendly competition throughout the school and build connections between the classes. However, the crown jewel for many in past years has been the victor of the skits, and such a well-received event being replaced has left some students outraged.
¨I’m pretty mad, it was really funny,¨ said Nick Bonasera, a Triton senior.
Although students may be upset, it is quite obvious for many the reasons skits were removed from the Spirit Week celebrations.
¨[There were] too many negative factors as a whole¨ Said Stacey Beaulieu, Special Education IA and the main Spirit Week coordinator.
Skits came down for many different reasons. One of which is the time needed to write the skit. In previous years, students put the utmost effort into their skits by starting them early in the year in September. Their preparations included lengthy rehearsals and rewrites, ensuring that not only were the jokes funny, but all in good fun. Unfortunately in recent years, Triton’s classes seem to have lost their sense of sympathy towards their own staff and began making fun of teachers.
¨Students sort of just stopped creating the skits with any taste,” said Tyler Jacobs, an alumni of the Triton class of 2018 and an instructional assistant today.
Students should take a step back to realize and consider their mistakes. Whether by accident or not, the skits had been set on a path toward blatant slander against the teachers who devote most of their waking hours to their students.
¨Sometimes people don’t find it funny,¨ Wotton said.
The question became: If Spirit Week is an event all about inclusion, why are we dividing ourselves from our staff? Think of how much more fun an event like this would be if everyone could enjoy it both students and staff. This is the idea that led Beaulieu and the administration to brainstorm new solutions to this issue that would still allow for some lighthearted fun.
¨No one should dread that day,¨ Beaulieu said.
Taking our time to prepare an event that incorporates everyone is the definition of Spirit Week, staff say. Knowing this, administrators and class officers have come together to introduce Family Feud this year. So the question you might be asking yourself is, how is Family Feud at Triton going to work?
¨It is basically the exact game of Family Feud,¨ Beaulieu said.
The event will consist of teams of 4-6 per grade level and they will answer questions, some of which pertain to Triton like “Who’s your favorite teacher?¨. These questions will be voted on through a survey sent beforehand during a VikingBlock to determine the most popular answers and therefore how many points the contestants will gain with their responses. The atmosphere will be complete with music, buzzers, and the screen down in the auditorium. A big goal for Family Feud and Spirit Week in general is to introduce more that the skits were lacking, on top of improving what made them memorable in the first place.
The games will also have ¨More faculty/staff involvement,¨ Beaulieu said.
Teams of eight students composed of the winners of the previous rounds will compete against an equal amount of staff to go head to head in a final round, which is sure to bring some interesting rivalries to see who will come out on top. With such a promising event on the horizon, Triton’s faculty have done their part and are excited to see the turnout.
Now it’s the students’ turn.
Wear a funny outfit for the dress-up days, try hard in a spike ball tournament, participate in family feuds, show up to football games, and just overall try to have some spirit. Who knows, you might even end up enjoying yourself.
¨Before you complain about your school, [ask yourself] what are you putting into it?¨ Beaulieu said.
