First Annual Spirit Week - 2021

The idea for Spirit Week came from student mentors Zachary and Rachel Hughes. With upper school finals having ended last week, the Hughes thought a special week was in order to celebrate students’ hard work and kick off the new semester. “Our school talks about joy, wonder, and depth of inquiry. The idea of Spirit Week was to bring joy into the school after a period of hard work,” says Mr. Hughes.

Mr. Hughes launched Spirit Week during a special Opening Ceremony Monday morning. Students of all grades gathered around the ice rink as Mr. Hughes explained the purpose of Spirit Week and officiated the grand opening of the new ice rink and cross-country ski track. He emphasized the gratitude the school community has for the fabulous facilities, the result of hard work and generosity from school leadership, staff, and donors. Afterwards, the senior class cut a symbolic red ribbon to celebrate the grand opening and also mark the start of the first of many annual Spirit Weeks.

After being sorted into ancient civilization teams — Aztecs, Egyptians, Hawaiians, and Vikings — 6th- through 12th-grade students engaged in a range of fun activities this week. These included tug-of-war, a “chariot race,” dodgeball, and a winter relay race, as well as artistic competitions such as team skits and art boards. The Hughes themselves performed skits Monday and Friday, dressed as Roman characters from Lingua Latina. “We wanted to make it funny and entertaining and get the kids laughing at school,” Mrs. Hughes says.

 

In addition to engaging in activities and enjoying watching others, upper school students were also given the liberty to dress up two days this week, first as a character from literature or history, then in their new JHCA hoodies and jeans. Staff and faculty judged the character costumes, and the winner was Sascha Mizelle ‘24, who dressed as an H.P. Lovecraft character. The ultimate champions of the first annual School Spirit week, and the Champion Cup, was the Viking team.

Upper school Spirit Week is intended to be a new annual tradition, one of many. Besides Spirit Week, JH Classical Academy plans to make other new traditions from this year’s recurring events, such as the High School Christmas Banquet and the drive-in movie on campus this past Fall. Just like Spirit Week, the goal of these events is to “bring more joy to JHCA,” says Mr. Hughes. Upper school students thoroughly enjoyed the fun activities this week, and lower school students now have another thing to look forward to in the upcoming years. JH Classical Academy hopes that as the community continues to grow, school spirit does, too!