As school traditions begin to reappear after COVID-19, one tradition, winter spirit week, is back at LHS. Last year, it was  canceled, with the Lions Pride Google Classroom posting, “In light of recent events, we will be postponing spirit week until after winter break.” No replacement was ever announced after the 2020-2021 winter break. 

This year, winter spirit week lasts from December 20th to December 23rd, and like during the fall spirit week, dress-up days will make their return. Since the week before winter break is four days long, there are only four dress-up days rather than the five seen in the fall. Each day has its own call-down period, in which people who dress up will go down with their class and be counted. Each class will earn points for battle of the classes based on their percentage of participation.

The dress-up days for winter spirit week are as follows:

Monday, Dec. 20: Ugly Sweater Day

Ugly Sweater Day is a staple in winter spirit week. Ugly sweaters are both festive and widely available during this time of year. Most students have one, or are able to improvise an ugly sweater before call downs. The call down period for Ugly Sweater Day is first period. 

Tuesday, Dec. 21: Tourist Tuesday

New to winter spirit week is Tourist Tuesday, in which students will dress for “their dream vacay” according to the spirit week flyer. This is a fairly broad dress up day, as students can wear anything from beach or snow gear to  Hawaiian shirts and more. If you don’t know what to wear, head to Google and search images of “tourists” for inspiration. The call down for Tourist Tuesday is second period. 

Wednesday, Dec 22: Ghost of Holidays Past

Ghosts of Holidays Past is a familiar dress up day with a new name. Students will dress up according to the decade their class selected. The order of selection was determined randomly, and each class ended up with the following decade:

Seniors – 80’s

Juniors – 70’s

Sophomores – 50’s

Freshmen  – 90’s

If you have no idea what to wear, a quick Google search of the decade’s fashion can provide inspiration. The call down for Ghost of Holidays Past is third period. 

Thursday, Dec 23: Class Color Day

As per tradition, the last day of spirit week has students wear their class colors. This day usually sees the largest turnout out of all of the dress up days. The colors of the classes are as follows:

Seniors – Blue

Juniors – Red

Sophomores – Green

Freshmen – Purple

Multiple classes have been selling class t-shirts in preparation for Class Color Day, in which students are encouraged to wear their class gear. The call down for Class Color Day is fourth period. 

Traditionally in winter spirit weeks, pep rallies would take place where games would be played for the class to earn points. This year, due to COVID-19 concerns, the pep rally has been postponed to the spring. Due to this postponement, a class competition will take place on Thursday, December 23rd for classes to earn points. Details on the competition and how to sign up will be announced soon.

The postponement of the pep rally also caused the cancellation of both the class banner and lip sync battle. Traditionally, each class would work on a banner to hang up in the gym during the pep rally. Classes would also organize, rehearse and perform a routine as part of the lip sync battle. Typically, the upperclassmen had more participation and success with these events as compared to the underclassmen. 

Despite these changes, this year’s winter spirit week marks the return of a major LHS tradition that was lost last year due to COVID-19. It will be a great send-off and time of unity for the student body before they leave for winter break.