Spirit Week 2024

During the week of November 3, students dressed up in a variety of outfits in celebration of Lawrenceville’s annual Spirit Week, which uses  a new theme each day to build up excitement for the weekend’s festivities. Organized by the Student Council, the themes for this year’s Spirit Week ranged from “Twin Day” to ‘“Anything but a Backpack” Day.

According to Vice President of Social Life Tenjiwe Sithole ’25, the planning process involved multiple discussions among the members of the Student Council. She explained how the Council drew inspiration from the themes of past years in order to determine “what [would be] most engaging for the student body.”

Sustainability Representative Riley Mckibben ’25 noted that the themes for each day needed to be “accessible to everyone, day students and boarders alike.” For instance, the Student Council decided to replace Blazer Day with Mismatch Day this year upon realizing that many female-identifying students did not own blazers. Mckibben also explained that the Student Council historically scheduled Spirit Week in anticipation of several other major school events, such as Hill Day and Homecoming, which both happened on Saturday, November 9, this year. “Hill Day is arguably our biggest athletic event of the year,” Mckibben said, “so having a week-long lead-up [Spirit Week] builds the excitement and energy for the weekend.”

Reflecting on the overall atmosphere of Spirit Week, Joshua Wang ’27 remarked, “I think that it was definitely fun to do, especially when we have so many major assignments coming up and a lot of students are working really hard [in terms of] both athletics and academics.” He enjoyed seeing how various students engaged in the events and exercised their creativity, especially on ‘Wear Anything but a Backpack’ Day. 

Melina Kyriakopoulos ’27 likewise considered Spirit Week to be “a great way to get students involved in School activities.” She noted that by encouraging student participation, these events can foster a “sense of camaraderie” and “bring together…the community.”

Indeed, cultivating school spirit is one of the central objectives of the 2024-25 Student Council, as reflected in their motto, “United and Proud.”

“We feel that school spirit has been lacking in recent years and we want to do as much as possible to bring it back,” Sithole explained. She believes that school spirit is “one of the most defining aspects of [one’s] high school experience,” and hopes, as VP of Social, to continue providing such opportunities for the student body to come together.