Juniors pose during their airband performance. Photo by Charlotte Nesevich ’25.
“Your winners of Spirit Week 2022,” said Mr. Miller dramatically as the students anxiously huddled around the DJ booth, “are the Class of …Twenty … Twenty Four.” The seniors fell silent with disbelief as the juniors erupted into celebration.
The dance was a conclusion to a wild week of upset after upset, culminating in a shocking blow for the seniors: a second place finish to the juniors.
Many seniors had strong reactions to their loss, including Bella Dawson ’23: “I was shocked,” she explained. “I believe the reason we lost was because of a lack of Dean’s Points, which is something that has always been in place to reward good sportsmanship. It makes me feel like getting rid of Dean’s Points shows a lack of recognition and value towards sportsmanship.”
Despite being upset about losing Spirit Week as a senior, Cassie Dominguez ’23 said, “In my opinion, regardless of us winning or losing, we are still one of the most close knit grades, and there isn’t anything that can change that. I was disappointed, but I know we all worked hard and tried our best.
Jaylen Patel ’23 added, “It’s obviously disappointing, but we can’t expect people to feel bad for us. We didn’t step up when we needed to, and we got out-performed. To be honest, the way the week was going, I knew we needed a miracle to pull off a win, so I wasn’t that surprised to hear that we lost.”
While the seniors processed their tough loss, the juniors celebrated their huge win in the dining hall: “I was in shock that we beat [the seniors],” said Jewell Jacobs ’24. “I didn’t realize that all of the effort was going to pay off in our favor.”
“Personally, I think the healthy competition helped our grade come together,” said Avani Verma ’24. “When we realized we had a chance at winning, we learned that working together could only help our chances to succeed.”
A junior senior upset isn’t a typical occurrence. The last time a junior class upset the seniors was when the Class of 2022 defeated the Class of 2021 during June Week, the Covid-modified version of Spirit Week.
