During spirit week, commitment is key, and if you saw him you would know that Mr. Horsely sure did commit to the bit. Nothing says pride like shaving off a pretty impressive beard for a high school spirit week dress-up day!
The week leading up to Thanksgiving starts spirit week, where classes go head-to-head in events, with a dance on the weekend to split it up. Spirit week begins with a series of fun events that all students and staff can participate in to gain points for their grade levels. There is a new dress up theme each day: Boston sports, Barbie, PJ’s, Groutfits, USA, and a final class unity color. Tournaments run throughout the week of volleyball and spike ball to see who can win for their class. Throughout all of this, Triton also does a stuff-a-bus and a book drive as a way to give back to our community.
Everyone looked forward to Thanksgiving break, but before the week was cut short an empty auditorium for a game of Family Feud , and a fully decorated gym was waiting for each class to participate in sport competitions and surprise pies in the face.
Senior class president Sophia Chapman is a huge supporter of spirit week.
“Spirit week is so fun for everyone and kind of gives everyone a break before Thanksgiving,” says Chapman. “People look forward to it all year, and it’s just a fun thing to bring the school together.”
Throughout this occasion Chapman helps out her school community in many ways. Those beautiful decorations you see in the gymnasium on the final day before break is something she gives up her time after school to help create and set up. If you participated in the spikeball or volleyball tournament, give her a big thank you for helping setting them up and creating the schedules.
Chapman, along with the other class officers are a major help during spirit week. They also have some help from their class advisors Ms. Cheryl Wotton and Ms. Sarah Scruton. Wotton really enjoys spirit week and the excitement it brings out of the students and staff.
The week is about“really remembering that classes are unified, that it’s really special to have each other,” says Wotton. “High school can be so hard. It’s your classmates that help make it through high school with those memories.”
Along with Wotton, class of 2026 advisor and math teacher here at Triton, Ms. Heather Walter, also enjoys seeing the classes unifying during this time. Her favorite part of spirit week is when Triton participates in the stuff-a-bus food drive. Each year, Triton donates a large amount of food to the Newbury Food Pantry, which is then given out to those families in need. Walter loves the Triton community working together and giving back to the community.
Even with how much the student body contributes to spirit week, there is always room for improvement. Wotton and Walter say that there is usually the same amount and same group of students, as well as staff, carrying a lot of the workload. They would love to get more of the student body involved in dress-up days, fundraisers, and activities. But, they are also aware that some students may have a reason they are not as involved.
“They probably aren’t participating because they don’t want to, or they don’t care enough,” states Walter. “It could be that they aren’t participating because they don’t have the means to participate.”
It is important to encourage the classmates around you to become more involved in their school activities. Every student has a voice and should use it to their advantage and make spirit week something they will enjoy.
Now, there has been a decision that has led to some student speculation. A big change that has mixed emotions from the students and staff, is the fact that there were no skits this year. The skits have been around at Triton for many years in an attempt to light the feud between Triton and Pentucket. It has also been a way for students to show their creativity and poke some fun at classes or staff. However, recently they have been taking a turn.
Tritons very own principal, Mr. Patrick Kelley, reveals his thoughts on the matter.
“The skits were not serving the purpose they additionally served,” said Kelley. “Over the last several years they’ve become far more rude or disrespectful towards teachers and some students directly.”
The once funny, and playful shows, were used by the students to target certain faculty members. This led to the decisions of them being revoked from spirit week, and instead being replaced by a game of Family Feud.
Junior student council member, class officer, and viking mentor, Molly Reilly, shares her opinion on the removal of the skits.
“I wish the skits were not taken away,” said Reilly. “But I am looking forward to seeing if family feud can compare to them.”
Reilly helps out tremendously during spirit week making sure her fellow classmates enjoy their week and have a fun experience. She thinks that family feud has been tougher to get the students engaged with, but is still excited to see how it turns out.
Despite any changes, during this 2024 school year spirit week, the student body has shown up. Each dress up day, all grades levels have participated but to different extents.
During dress-up days, the seniors took home a total of 4 first place wins throughout the week. The juniors finished with 2 first place wins. While the sophomores and freshman ended up having 0 first place wins.
From Barbie day, to groutfit day, to class unity color day, it was amazing to see all the grades come together to support one another.
On the final day of school before break, everyone gathered in the auditorium for a game of family feud. While the sophomore did not win a single dress-up day, they did end up taking home the first place win of the family feud. Do you think it successfully took the place of skits?
Pie is a very popular dessert around thanksgiving, but what about when it’s about to be smashed into a face? During spirit week, each senior class officer picks a teacher they want to go against in a war to raise the most money to save getting paid. This year Luke Sullivan got pied by business teacher Mr. Frank Torres. Senior Jovanni Rodriguez got to successfully pie superintendent Mr. Brian Forget. Ava Kiricoploes, after a very close battle, pied English teacher Mrs. Erin Dempsey. Owen Silva, with a very convincing campaign method, was awarded the please of pieing principal Mr. Patrick Kelley in the face. Last but not least, Charlie Mollineux somehow got to pie math teacher Mr. Haley. Collectively, every class officer and staff member involved raised over two thousand dollars, which goes directly to the senior class.
Luke Sullivan being the only class officer who did not raise more money than his teacher says he “kinda expected it.” Knowing who Mr. Torres is, Sullivan knew what Torres would do in order to win. Even though he was expecting to get pied, it still wasn’t an enjoyable event.
“It didn’t feel great,” states Sullivan. “It was everywhere in my nose, ears, and hair, and it smelt horrible. I don’t recommend it.”
The decorations in the gymnasium this year took the students and staff by surprise. Each class put a great amount of hard work and time into their creations, and none went unnoticed. However, only one could take home first place and that was the seniors finding nemo theme.
After the whole week, a total number of points were tallied. Just like in golf, the class with the lowest amount of points would win. Once all points were added up, coming in last place with 33 points were the sophomores. Finishing above them in third place, with not much room, were the freshman with a total of 30 points. The runners-up, ending with only 22 total points, were the juniors. Finally, tallying half of the points that the sophomore received, were the seniors with 16 points.
