Molly Stine
Reporter
As one of the most anticipated weeks of the school year and a longstanding tradition, spirit week unifies the entire student body through their love of the high school. Students get the opportunity to come to school in outrageous outfits, expressing both their creativity and school spirit. But somewhere along the way, the consumption of alcohol in school became a tradition. It is now commonplace to find beer cans in the bathroom and intoxicated students wandering through the hall during spirit week.
Senior Sasha* is one of the many students who chose to drink last year before the pep rally. “I decided to drink mainly because a bunch of my friends were doing it. It just sounded cool, like a lot of fun.”
However, senior Kate Ray does not condone this new behavior, especially at school. “It’s understandable that students want to have a good time during spirit week, but I don’t think that it is the proper place to be drinking,” she said. “You’re in school, bottom line. There is a time for work and a time for play.”
Social Studies Department Chair Richard Webb believes that students’ actions have something to do with the constant pressure they are under. “Spirit week is a time out for a hard working and driven student body that are stressed out of their minds,” He said. “All of a sudden you have this exciting event that lets off steam. If you are providing students with a way to let off steam to begin with, it is just begging to be abused.”
According to Assistant Principal Ari Rothman, the high school’s zero tolerance policy for coming to school intoxicated applies the same during spirit week as it does during the whole school year. “Drinking anytime during school is not acceptable,” he said. “I have questions about someone’s judgment if they think it is okay. The rules don’t change just because it’s spirit week. We expect the same standard of behavior as we do any other time.”
Mr. Rothman added that there are extra steps the faculty takes to ensure students’ sobriety. “We know that this has been an issue with some kids, so we are extra vigilant; we are on alert, and not just the administration the entire staff. Every adult who works in this building always pays extra attention.”
Athletic Director Jay Egan said that trust plays a large role in how the faculty treats the students during spirit week activities. “The administrators and I feel that we want to start out trusting that the students are going to be able to accept the responsibilities and freedoms that they have here and not act in a negative fashion.”
Mr. Egan continued to say that this year there would be differences in how certain events were run. “Because of students choosing to drink, we now have to find a different way to organize events like the pep rally. There are going to be some changes this year, given what has happened in the past.”
Senior Will Hennessy, student body president, also agreed that drinking affects many spirit week events, especially the homecoming dance. “It’s saddening to see that after all the effort Student Coalition puts in to organizing the dance, people don’t want to go anymore because they can’t drink,” he said. “Since the breathalyzer has been put in, attendance at the dance has exponentially gone down,” he said. “Since it’s one of our major fundraisers of the year it prevents us from doing other things for the school and makes it seem like our school spirit is lacking.”
Mr. Egan added how much he enjoys our traditions and hopes they aren’t lost because of students’ actions. “The responsibility falls on the students for how they choose to behave and if they act as students are expected to act in school, these traditions can be maintained,” he said. “I am the first guy to say that we have a lot of great traditions and I’d love to see them all preserved, but we have to all work together to do that.”
Sasha* is also able to recognize the severity of the consequences for drinking in school. “I regret it because I know it was stupid and I put myself at a lot of risk,” she said. “I could have gotten not only myself in trouble, but my friends as well, and made a bad name for my high school.”
Mr. Egan has high expectations for this year’s spirit week. “Ideally we would be able to focus more on being excited about New Canaan High School and appreciate that these traditions such as spirit week and the pep rally do exist. My hope is that the students enjoy these traditions as they are and don’t use them as an excuse for inappropriate behavior,” he said. “I think that our school being able to maintain and preserve these traditions is what makes this school special.”
