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School spirit reaches new heights
(by Kathryn A. Burger - September 23, 2008)
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Staff photos by Kathryn A. Burger
Senior Kara Guglielmo is pictured by the 'Twilight Zone'-esque banner she made for 'The Blackout' hallway.
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Last week was “Spirit Week” at Park Ridge High that culminated in a pep rally on Friday, the eve of the football team’s first game of the season on Saturday at Cresskill.
The student councils for each grade, led by the executive council, are determined to raise school spirit and have earned the support of the administration, faculty and staff. Their ambitious plans require lots of teamwork and if last week’s events are any indication, they are on the right track.
There was “Mismatch Monday” where students wore all manner of mismatched attire – shoes, socks, earrings and jarringly mismatched colors of clothing – “Tie-Dye Tuesday” and “Pajama Wednesday.” Thursday was “Color Day” and each grade wore T-shirts in their color with the “Color War” logo they designed. Friday was “Maroon and White Day,” the school colors, since the pep rally was held that day.
When parents and visitors came to “Back to School Night” at Park Ridge High last Thursday night, they were greeted not only by administrators and faculty, but by elaborately decorated hallways created by each grade in the school. This was the “opening salvo” in the school’s, “Color War” organized by the student council. Senior Lisa Sileo, vice president of the executive student council, said, “We planned the contest so that all the halls would be decorated for ‘Back to School Night.’ ”
Mike Kehrli, president of the executive council, said, “The ‘Color War’ is an event that various schools have done before; however, it had never been done at Park Ridge High.” He said he started thinking about starting the tradition at Park Ridge High last year. “I really wanted to bring it to Park Ridge High as part of the year-long bicentennial celebration [of the district’s first school]. During our meetings this summer, we worked to put everything together. Each grade was assigned a specific color,” and was told about it before school started.
Each grade chose a theme based on their assigned color: seniors –The Blackout; juniors – Orange Crush; sophomores- Blue Wave; freshmen – Red Bulls. (The sixth and seventh grades each decorated a hallway, too, but were not part of the competition.)
Hallways were chosen by each grade in descending order, seniors first. How elaborate the displays would be depended on how much advance planning was done by each grade – they had only two hours last Wednesday night to decorate their hallways.
The contest was the first in what is expected to be a year-long series of color-themed competitions. The winner of the “Color War” will be announced in the spring. Kehrli emphasized that the atmosphere surrounding the contest had been very positive and was approached by the study body as a friendly competition.
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The Class of 2009 won the first 'battle' of the Color War at Park Ridge High School. This is just one of the banners and other decorations that covered every inch of the school hallway they chose.
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Last year, the student council did sponsor a hallway decorating contest and the Class of 2009 won. The “buzz” from that competition sparked lots of interest in this year’s competition with the Class of 2010 vowing to “crush” the seniors. But that was not to be. Senior Ali Glasner, a student council member said, “All the teachers voted for their favorites.” The sophomores took second; the juniors, third, and the freshmen, fourth.
Glasner said that as her class has gone through Park Ridge High, they have noticed a lack of school spirit. “We wanted to make a change during our last year so the underclassmen could have an enjoyable experience during their years in high school.”
Thursday was judging day for the contest. Virtually every student displayed their color in one way or another and wore their class T-shirts. On a tour of the hallways that morning, teens with spiked blue hair, spray-painted orange hair, a senior dressed in a gorilla suit, and another as Count Dracula were among the dozens and dozens of students that sped by when as classes changed. Teachers were conspicuous – they’d been assigned white.
The cooperation of the administration was evident as Mark Cosgrove, the assistant principal, walked from the junior hallway into the senior hallway. Lisa Sileo, the executive student council vice president, and Mike Kehrli, the president, were at the entrance to the senior’s “The Blackout” hallway. With them was Cody Scheidle up to his neck in a gorilla suit. He said his “head” was in his locker; he was wearing sunglasses. As Cosgrove walked by, all he said was, “No sunglasses.” He didn’t have a problem with a student wearing a gorilla suit – just the sunglasses.
Gary Mioli, a guidance counselor at the high school, who is also the varsity football coach, can see the difference already. Commenting on the first battle in the “Color War,” he said, “We’ve always had good school spirit here, but this was a tremendous surprise. All these kids in their T-shirts – they all wore them with pride. And on Friday for the pep rally and at the game on Saturday, the maroon and white was just outstanding.” Mioli, who has been at the school for 18 years, he said, “This is the most school spirit I’ve seen since I’ve been at Park Ridge High.”
The ultimate goal of these activities is to reinvigorate the student body’s enthusiasm for their school and sustain it in the future. That’s what the Class of 2009 and their student leaders want their legacy to be.
They’re off to a great start – the Park Ridge Football Owls won their game against Cresskill 19-7.
Kathryn A. Burger's e-mail address is burger@northjersey.com.
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