Kicking off spirit week with Music Genre Day, students shuffled onto campus with attire ranging from cowboy hats and flannels, to snapbacks and baggy shirts. During lunch, three games were held in the gymnasium: “Sharks and Minnows,” “Knight, Mount, Carry,” and “Simon Says.” At the end of the day, the seniors came out on top with 16 overall points, the juniors and sophomores tied with 15 apiece, and the freshmen came in last with 5.

In the hallways of Building 7, a whole different competition was taking place—an event to see which grade could decorate their selective hallways the best. Seniors secured first place, sophomores came in second, juniors third, and freshmen last. 

“We wanted you to feel like you were in Shrek’s swamp, so we decorated the walls with real palm fronds and different shades of green, as well as an interactive banner with Shrek and Fiona inside,” theatre sophomore Nicolette Carew said. “We incorporated some of our volunteers’ ideas and the hallway came out perfectly.”

The first gym game was “Sharks and Minnows,” where the objective was for students to make it across the court before being tagged by each grade’s teacher, the shark. In total, four teachers participated in the game; math teacher Matthew Vaughan, social studies teacher Ross Vening, media specialist Sarah Garcia and theatre teacher Andrew Gilbert. Following “Sharks and Minnows” was “Knight, Carry, Mount.” Communications freshman Magnolia Lang described it as a game where you have to “get on top of the person’s back, get down on one knee, hold their head, and carry them like a baby for as long as possible.” 

Finally, the lunch event concluded with a game of “Simon Says.” Freshmen placed fourth, juniors came in third, sophomores in second, and the seniors took first place. For “Simon Says,” theatre junior Eliza Cave’s strategy was to “not watch other people.” 

“If you were standing behind someone who messed up, your instinct would be to repeat what they did,” Cave said. “You just have to listen.” 

When the games concluded, some participants had thoughts about how it could be improved in the future.

 “The [Student Government Association] should make more running games,” communications sophomore Christian Chantayan said. “We expected ‘Knight, Mount, Carry’ to be more running. They should clarify what the games are going to be to help students choose what to do.” 

While some students are eager to join in and even play multiple games, others are not so sure.

 “To anyone on the fence about participating, I recommend that they sign up and participate because they’re actually really fun,” visual sophomore Alexander Cano said. “They shouldn’t be embarrassed.”

As the first day came to a close, students reflected on their memories of spirit week. When asked about their favorite aspect of the week, students like dance freshman Sarah Howes said “definitely the outfits,” while others, like Chantayan, pointed to the “atmosphere and the ability to participate.” 

 

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Piano juniors Ethan Cheung and David Liu celebrate their victory in the Knight, Mount, Carry game during Monday’s gym games as the junior class roars with applause, captured by @bellaboo243. During the game, teams of two players assumed one of three poses based on what an announcer said. One player had to “knight,” “mount,” or “carry” the other player. The other games played during lunch were Sharks and Minnows and Simon Says. “Just the idea that David and I had so many people in the front coming down to us, cheering us on, and telling us not to give up gave both of us … confidence and adrenaline,” Cheung said. “After realizing that it was down to the top three [teams], and the rest of the instructions involved physical activities, I was pretty confident […] We were overwhelmed with the feeling of excitement and relief [when] we had won the event.” #dsoasga

A post shared by The Muse (@themuseatdsoa) on Jan 27, 2020 at 3:29pm PST