The homecoming dance is an exciting point of the year that students can look forward to after surviving the first few months of school. Dresses are being bought, tuxes are being rented, and school spirit is alive throughout the hallways. At least, it usually is. 

The school week that leads up to the homecoming dance is traditionally known as “Spirit Week.” During this week of school, students are encouraged to show off their school spirit by dressing within the constraints of a certain daily theme. At PLHS, the Student Council is in charge of establishing these themes. However, this year’s Spirit Week themes were somewhat disappointing. 

With fun alliterations for each day of the week, such as ‘Merica Monday, it is not fair to claim that the Student Council is at fault for a lack of effort or creativity. Yet there were only a handful of students who participated in what was supposed to have been a fun-filled week of wacky outfits. 

The issue behind this lack of participation was not hard to catch onto, though. A quick stroll through the hallways would consist of the same conversation popping up from several different groups.  

Many students had actually wanted to dress up for Spirit Week, but simply did not own anything to match the theme. Although this year’s themes were catchy and creative, many of them focused on unpopular clothing trends. While some people were able to borrow clothes from their parents, most were left with nothing to wear.  

As the week progressed, several people began to reminisce to last year’s themes, most notably Meme Day. The general consensus of the student body was to see Meme Day make a return, but this was purposefully avoided. 

The Student Council took special care not to recycle any themes from last year. Though many students were disappointed that Meme Day was not reprised, perhaps next year it will make a comeback.  

In addition to Meme Day’s return, next year holds potential for improvement in both student participation and overall school spirit. Although there are always students who will never don any spirit week attire, this year’s spirit week had a disappointing turn-out among even the most involved students. Despite Student Council’s worthwhile efforts, improvement during next year’s spirit week will not be a daunting task.