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Spirit Week is an entire week devoted to getting ready for Homecoming. This year, just as in past years, Manhattan High had many fun events to accompany the week and make it enjoyable for all students. All leading up to the Homecoming dance the students spent the week preparing themselves and planning with their friends.

This year’s pep rally was full of fun things, new and old. The administrators and Tribe brought back Hungry Hungry Hippos and the doughnut eating competition, which was won by senior Jalin Harper. The cheerleaders and the dance team did a new routine. With all the new flips and tricks that were done, the students still waited for the “main” event.

“They [the Powderpuff cheerleaders] are always the coolest part of the pep rally I feel like it’s what everyone looks forward to,” Emily Stewart, sophomore, said.

Many students look forward to the Powderpuff cheerleaders. They are a huge part of keeping kids involved and allowing them to be a part of something they don’t usually get to do. Senior males get the opportunity to show off their cheerleading skills during the Powderpuff game and the pep rally. With the boys being a huge attraction, everyone was looking forward to seeing their routine this year.

“I feel like it was good but wasn’t as good as last year, I mean they did a bunch more flips and stuff last year but they didn’t really do that much this year,” Stewart said.

Some students were disappointed in the routine since new rules have prevented them from doing the lifts and tricks that have made the routines so different in past years. The only thing students did not like was that it was held on a Wednesday during advisory it not only was in the middle of the week getting students excited for something that is two days away, the pep rally also took away from the precious advisory time that students really could’ve used to study for tests or finish homework.

“I wish it had been on Friday before the game so everyone’s like really excited for the game and not during the week, I had so much to study for and I feel like taking away from that advisory time wasn’t a good idea,” Stewart said.

While the pep rally got everyone hyped up for the game, the entire week was devoted to Homecoming. Everyday was a spirit day to get in the mood for the occasion. With the theme for the dance being “Let’s go to the movies,” MHS kicked off the week on Monday with a “Breakfast Club” themed pajama’ day, Tuesday was “Parent Trap” or twin day, Wednesday was “Mean Girls” or pink out, Thursday was “Space Jam” or jersey out, and Friday was “High School Musical” or school spirit day.

Students used the spirit days to get prepared for the dance and to do a variety of things with their friends to get in the right spirit.

“Jersey day was my favorite because it was both twin and jersey day for me as I gave my girlfriend one of my old football jerseys and I wore my newest one,” Kiefer Schmidt, sophomore, said.

Along with the spirit days, there were all the events along the way that made this week stand out from others. It started with the pep rally and Powderpuff game, Thursday was Club Dodgeball, Friday was the football game and Saturday the dance itself was held.

Overall the week was a huge hit among high school students and really prepared people to have a great time at the dance on Saturday.

During the dance on Saturday many students crowded in the MHS gym to party it up. With the commons covered in shimmering silver lining and the red carpet leading to the gym students could bring out their inner movie star to enjoy the dance and show a side of themselves that most people can’t show at school.

“Just going crazy having fun with my friends; my seniors and seeing all of them having a great time,” Dirk Andrade, senior, said.

With this being the first dance of the year there were quite a few students who showed up.The dance had a good impact on the students and was fun for all. Some students even wished the dancing itself had lasted longer.

“The music was great because the songs we knew everyone got pumped but even the ones no one knew were awesome because we all were just having fun,” Andrade said. “Two hours were great but maybe one more hour or just even thirty more minutes would have been better too.”

Tribe works extremely hard to make things like this possible and the students would like to thank them for all their hard work and how much they do to make every year, especially senior year special at Manhattan High.  

“I think people in Tribe deserve a huge thanks and appreciation for what they did, they made a great dance that I will never forget,” Andrade said.

Overall Homecoming week was great for getting students involved and was a good way to kick off the first dance of the year.