Skye Curren, Reporter
@esccourant
For one week every school year, NCHS is transformed. Instead of student’s usual apparel, the school halls are filled, varying each day, with extravagant costumes. This year, Monday is Pajama Day, Tuesday is Classy Day, Wednesday is Turn Back the Clock Day, Thursday is Costume Day and Friday is Red and Black Day. Homecoming week gets students excited and highlights school pride, but when did these traditions start?
David Harvey, a ‘71 graduate of NCHS, reminisced on his favorite spirit days, Turn Back the Clock and Red and Black Day. “We had red and black day, we still had the regular pep rally, with the introduction to the fall sports teams and there used to be a pie eating contest- that was a feature of the pep rally,” Mr. Harvey said.
On homecoming night, Mr. Harvey experienced the same bonfire and band performances that students still participate in today. “As the bonfire would wind down, you’d have kid’s bands, so it turned into a concert of high school singers,” he said.“It was like, not battle of the bands-it wasn’t a real competition, but it turned into a party and it went until 10:30.”
An element missing today from the 1960’s Spirit Week is the Homecoming King and Queen. “The homecoming queen, king and their court from each class were a big deal. They were all part of the actual homecoming parade, so they would ride in cars together,” Mr. Harvey said.
Mary Flaherty, a ‘90 graduate of NCHS, was apart of the Student Council which planned the spirit days and always found Hawaiian Day to be hilarious.
Ms. Flaherty highlights how the discontinued tradition of the Homecoming Float Contest, which ended in the mid-90’s, was popular during her high school spirit week. “ Each class year was in charge of building a float, typically we decorated somebody’s flatbed pickup truck,” she said. “One year we made a float of a crushed soda can in Darien colors with the theme ‘crush the wave’. There was also a big stapler for when we played Staples.
According to Aaron Gallo, another ‘90 graduate and current NCHS English teacher, spirit days at the time were more based on pop culture- like band t-shirts or college sweatshirts. He added that at the time there was no clone day or real costumes.
A more recent graduate and current English teacher, Ellen Fitzpatrick (class of ‘09), recalled one of her most memorable Clone Day costumes. “One year there was a group of kids that were all dressed as Super Mario Kart Characters. They had little toy cars and were out in the front of the school driving them around before school started,” she said.
Another favorite costume of Ms. Fitzpatrick’s were a group of trees. “This one year this group of senior boys were trees. They would like stand in the hallway with their branches out, blocking people and they would have no expression on their face,” she said. “Kids would be coming in late to class and they would say ‘sorry I’m late a tree got in the way, I had to go another way’.”
According to Ms. Fitzpatrick, during her time at NCHS, the bonfire always had a pie eating contest and different skits presented by students.
Although all of these graduates have different memories and experiences than NCHS students do now, they all have a common thread: school spirit and pride for New Canaan High School.schoo
