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Spirit Week for the Old and New

By Marcus Budline
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            On Monday October 4th, I donned my black “Famous Dave’s Barbeque” t-shirt and my yellow jersey from the Tour de France, a seemingly odd combination, but one that worked well in the sea of yellow, red, green, orange, and black that became the Princeton High School halls. But what would these colors have anything to do with PHS and its traditional blue and white? And why was my mood so melancholy on what was supposed to be an exciting and vibrant day?
            The colors are, in fact, a tradition unlike any other at the school, the beginning of Spirit Week with these colors representing each different class.
            “Each grade is assigned two colors to represent their class and everyone dresses in those two colors to show the pride they have with the rest of their graduating class” said senior Veronica Spann.
            And with this in mind, the multi-colored spirit continued throughout the week. On Tuesday kids paired off in matching outfits on twin day, Wednesday brought out the leg warmers and the togas for retro day, Thursday called on the 50th state added to the union on Hawaiian shirt day, and Friday served as the classic blue and white day.
            This is meant to be a fun week: a week for excitement and for pride. But this year, a somber tone underscored the festivities, as these seemingly nonsensical combinations of clothing and colors have their deepest meaning for seniors like me. This spirit week demarcated what is truly the beginning of the end, the last chance for us to participate in a tradition that most of PHS holds pretty sacred.
The “last first day” is the first time that idea of the end of high school is truly circulated, but there is a palpable sense of desire to go out with a “bang” among each year’s graduating class, with the last spirit week of our Princeton High School lives.
            And in gearing up to the fullest extent, the precedents and the traditions are laid down for the newest freshman class. The relationship throughout the week is not about getting ready to throw freshmen in garbage cans on “freshman Friday,” but instead it is about emphasizing what being a Little Tiger is all about and for the seniors to demonstrate for the freshmen how they should go about their senior sprit week four years later.
And for freshman Simon Gabriel, the week did its job. “The body painting definitely got me pumped up,” he said, and noted that he was surprised by how much the upperclassmen dressed up for each day.
            That Friday that is so fateful for many freshmen around the country rolled around, and nearly every student decked themselves out in the Little Tiger blue and white, leading up to a pep rally with a finality to it, as the seniors’ last spirit week drew to a close. 
            But with our last pep rally came the freshmen’s first, and going back to my cross country team and the freshmen I’d taken under my wing, I knew that in four years they would feel the same exuberance and need to pass on this PHS tradition.