The Class of 2017 flooded into the gym sporting their class shirts that read “Class of 0017,” a play on James Bond’s code name “007” and their graduating year. It was the culmination of Spirit Week, and the seniors were ready to finally dominate and win the spirit stick during the pep rally. After losing the free throw, hungry hippos, and musical chair competitions to the juniors, the Pep Rally dance was supposed to be the saving grace. However, the seniors received  third place, and it only took a couple of seconds for all chaos to break loose.

After screams and shouts from the seniors, one even going as far as to ripping his shirt off, it seemed all hope was lost for the Class of 2017. Miraculously, after all the points were totaled, the seniors were crowned the winners of Spirit Week 2017. The pattern of seniors seemingly winning Spirit Week no matter the circumstances has created controversy among both conspiracy theorists and average students alike, but the tradition of the top class winning may be one the seniors deserve.

At Dreyfoos, most students understand the  importance of Spirit Week is and what it represents to the graduating class. Seniors are known to go “all out,” and really give every single dress up day and event everything they have to offer. This has led to a long standing view by the seniors of each graduating year that they deserve to win, which always ends up happening.

Each year, underclassmen tend to cry foul and call the point totals “rigged,” but the truth is that the totals are announced each day of the week and by doing simple math, the seniors will end up ahead even if they lose a few events here and there. And after being at Dreyfoos for four years, seniors come to understand the importance of tickets, which can increase the point total of a class to a great extent.

For example, after the Class of 2017’s loss of the pep rally dance, many believed that the points were rigged to avoid a chaotic uprising from the seniors over losing Spirit Week. Even though their losses at the pep rally were heavy, their wins throughout the rest of the week kept them ahead and resulted in their victory, even without winning the pep rally dance. Nonetheless, the question still remains as to whether seniors should come out victorious yearly no matter what. Though they always put in more than enough effort to be able to win every single year, it seems that giving them the victory in the case of a defeat would be the best situation. To allow a senior class to lose their final Spirit Week would be like enforcing the dress code policy at Dreyfoos; both the students and administration would suffer greatly from the backlash.

It’s not just a question of whether seniors should always win, but a question of how to continue the illusion that this year might be the year the seniors finally lose.