Poetry Contest!

Again, congrats to Jisong for entering and winning the Creative Communication Poetry contest!

I would like all of you to enter the next one. Since you have all just written wonderful poems, it will be easy! Check it out here

Spirit Week... Can It Really Be Called That?

I remember my first spirit week at Palmer in grade 8. I was incredibly excited, partly because I thought that it would be fun because everybody would be doing it, and partly because it was my first year of high school, so I was very keen on doing many school sanctioned events. I did every theme that week, yet I noticed that little people did the same. Since then, I have noticed that less and less people partake in these weeks wholeheartedly as the special weeks go by.

Currently, I do not actively participate in spirit weeks. However, this does not mean that I don't have school spirit, or that I don't love this school. (I am actually currently fighting with everything that I have and every part of my heart and soul to be able to stay here for the remainder of high school, but that is a another story). I just dislike how they create boundaries about how I show my school spirit. All the days have themes, so if I do not follow the theme of the day per say, then it implies that I don't have school spirit. The boundaries, to me, say, "Do you have spirit? If you do, we have decided that this is how you should show it. Hopefully, everybody does all the days because that's what people with school spirit would do!", and I hate limits on basically anything to do with expressing myself. Furthermore, I find it odd that if we actually do have school spirit, the way to specifically show it is in a spirit week with dressing up to a certain predetermined theme by student council on a day in a week instead of being able to express our school spirit in any creative way that we want. Part of what makes us have school spirit is the fact that we are all different types of people connecting harmoniously in one school. Because we are different types of people, we all have our own ways of expressing school spirit that we are more comfortable with individually than simply dressing up to a random theme, whether the expression be large or small. Also, most of the themes of the days are irrelevant to Palmer, so how does dressing up in a spirit week prove that we indeed do have school spirit? Does bringing a banana to school so we get to eat a free sundai during lunch subliminally send the message that we are proud griffins who love RC Palmer Secondary? Perhaps if the themes were more closely related to Palmer with a little more freedom, (with the exception of Blue and White Day), instead of random themes that don't have anything to do with Palmer, more people would participate because then, at least that would actually be showing spirit in ways related to our school. Plus, for the unmotivated people, it would be one less reason not to participate as well.

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Spirit week or Spirit-less week, it is up to you to decide

Spirit Week. To some, it is a week of endless fun and excitement. To others, like me, its pretty much just like another week. Here at Palmer we have spirit weeks every month or so. During that week, students are encouraged to show their school spirit by acting in a certain way or wearing certain things. But I don't really get what doing all these crazy random activities have to do with school spirit. If you really want to show your school spirit, support your school's teams by going to work their games every once and a while. Now I'm not saying that spirit week is pointless. It is a fun week where people can do crazy and ridiculous things without looking like an idiot. I mean if somebody on a normal day decided to wear pyjamas to school or wear their clothes inside-out, they would look pretty silly. Spirit week would be better if more people participated in it. Judging from my previous spirit week experiences, I would say that about less than half the students actually participate in it. This could be for a couple of different reasons. People might be lazy and just choose not to participate in spirit week. Some people may be too shy and not be comfortable with doing the events or things planned on spirit week. I pretty sure that it is not because they forgot because a week or so before spirit week, almost everyday on the PA, people from student council talk about it. As for the PA announcements, I feel that although they are randomly fooling around, it gets people into the mood of things. However, I'm guessing that's not working too well, considering the number of people participating in spirit week. As for the events during spirit week, although some events are fun to do, some of them don't make much sense. For example, near the end of December, there was BYOB (Bring your own banana) day. Now, I don't really get how bringing a banana to school has anything to do with anything. Anyways, some people may already always bring bananas to school, so it will just be another normal day for them. I'm not saying these ideas are bad, I'm just saying that I don't get some of the events. Anyways, I think it is pretty hard for student council to come up with really good and exciting ideas every time. They are already trying their hardest, it is just that the students don't choose to participate. As for how spirit week is good for the school community, it can bring people together while making a school fun. However, since only about half of the school participates, that concept won't work too well. Spirit weeks are fun, but if no one decides to participate in it, it may as well be called a spirit-less week.

A Week Full Of Spirit

I think spirit week is a good event where everyone can participate and have fun. But I feel that fun can only go to some extent, and it all depends on how many are willing participate. I have been at Palmer since grade 8 and the first time I experienced spirit week I was excited, mainly because I was young and it was my first time. Also it was my first year of high school! Anyways, as months go by I find the spirit, since grade 8 become very decreased over the next spirit weeks. To me, the events have become boring. Although there are some that are more entertaining than others and depending on the people who participate in them either brings the fun and energy up or is just plain normal. I find the events become pretty repetitive, but I understand how hard it is to come up with ideas that people can participate in, and since I know some people who are on student council I can tell they are trying their best and I really appreciate them and respect how hard they work and the effort they offer. However, even though these events are planned and people are expected to show their Palmer pride, there is no guarantee that they will actually follow what is expected of them. Maybe because they find it to be boring and pointless, or they are just lazy, or maybe they have bad memory or they are too shy. All these factors affect whether or not they will work out, but overall it is a great chance for a certain individual to come out of their comfort zone and do something worthwhile in front of others and try to overcome their insecurity to be in front of people. In general this is a great tradition in Palmer and should be kept, and as long as there are people with spirit it will be enjoyable for everyone, I like it.

Spirt Week

Personally I do not enjoy participating in events like spirit week. I find them a waste of time doing trivial things that have no lasting effect on me. I know that some people find it enjoyable and can use it to interact with other people they would not normally meet but for me I find it little more than an attempt to inject some excitement into our day that serves no real purpose. Some of you may object to this but consider what you actually do when it's spirit week. How many new people have you met? Consider what the time could have been used for instead and how productive it was. It might have been worth it to some of you but to me it is a pointless exercise, not that I don't appreciate the work that has been put into this just how effective it is.

P.M. like last time I'll probably go back and expand this