Spirit Week

Last week was a really important week for Eastside High School, because it was Spirit Week! For the ones who don't know what this is: it's a week where the school raises money for a good cause. All week there are a lot of activities and things to buy. Every day has a different theme in which the students have to dress up. The week ends with a big football game and the reveal of the amount of money raised. It was my first and last Spirit Week ever, and I loved it! It's awesome to see how much the students are involved in organizing events and supporting the school. Of course I participated in some events myself! This blogpost will be all about that.

The Junior Girls team during Powderpuff, together with the boys who coached us. 

A big thing during Spirit Week is Powderpuff football. Normally the boys play football (even though our football team also has a girl in it), but during Powderpuff the girls play football! Instead of playing, the boys coach the girls. The four grades (freshmen, sophomores, juniors & seniors) play games against each other. I was in the Junior team and we all got special Powderpuff t-shirts to wear. I didn't know any of the rules because football is pretty complicated, but I still signed up because I can only have this experience once! I had to play Defense, which meant I had to try to get the ball from the quarterback. It was a lot of fun! Our first game was against the freshmen, and we won. After that the sophomores and seniors had to play against each other: the seniors won. The final game was the juniors against the seniors. Sadly enough we lost but a second place is good enough :) This was one of my most American experiences yet!

Spirit Week schedule! 

As I've told before, every day during Spirit Week the students have to dress up. This were our themes:
Monday: Pajama Day (on this day we were also on the news! Click here to see the video)
Tuesday: Hawaiian Day
Wednesday: Mathlete vs. Athelete
Thursday: Character / Superhero
Friday: Blue and Gold Day (our school colors)

Our Powderpuff shirts were awesome!

And yes, people really dress up for this! It was so funny to see (almost) everyone in their pajama's on Monday. There was also a different breakfast every day (bagels, muffins, Bojangles, pancakes & chick-fil-a) and during lunch there were a lot of opportunities to buy food as well.
Another activity I went to was the Acapella night. This is basically the same as you see in the movie 'Pitch Perfect'. I feel like this is a really big thing in the USA compared to the Netherlands. It was so fun to see all the different choirs and singers. They did a great job!
Something which I found very funny was the Bachelor Auction. This basically means that the girls can pay money to go out on a date with a boy. Whoever bids the most money 'wins' the date. All the boys come on the big stage, and the presenter tells something about them & their favorite pick - up line. ;) After that the girls can bid money. Some boys were 'bought' for more than 100 dollar, others for only 5 dollars.

How we looked during the Haunted Hallway! Creepy, right? 

On Thursday, it was time for the Haunted Hallway! I signed up to be a character in this (basically because I would be too scared to walk through the hallway myself), and I got to be a 'Serial Killer'. During drama class we made our costumes (ripping apart a shirt and putting fake blood on it), and in the evening a friend did my make - up. What we had to do was scare people as they were walking through our part of the hallway (actually a locker room). And that definitely worked! I've never seen so many scared people in just 2 hours. It was so much fun to randomly jump in front of them to scare them. A lot of people said that this was their scariest Haunted Hallway ever!

Another fun thing during Spirit Week was the class cup! This is a prize for the class who gives the most money and participates in activities the most. And, of course my grade (the Juniors) won the class cup. Yay!!

A video made about our Spirit Week:

During the football game on Friday the final amount of money was revealed: 125,325 dollars! I can't believe that just one school can raise so much money together. Our good cause this year was 'With Purpose', that wants to find a cure against childhood cancer. I'm so happy to go to Eastside and I love how everyone is committed by giving their money and going to the events. It was a great week :)