The decorations for “color wars,” AMSA’s Spirit Week day when high school grades dress and decorate the school in their class colors, seemed lacking on Oct. 25, according to some teachers and students, especially for the freshmen and sophomores. Many were disappointed with the results, which arguably lacked the ubiquity of previous years.
The school was decorated mostly in senior greens and junior reds with very little sophomore purple or freshman orange. There was only one purple streamer in the upper school cafeteria and very few orange streamers.
“Certainly this year, it is hard to deny [the lack of participation],” AMSA alumnus and computer science teacher Gregory Theos said. “It seems like it’s concentrated in the lower grades.”
In past years, the school has been smothered in decorations, with a mix of all the grades’ colors everywhere.
In contrast, this year’s decor left a lot of blank space on the walls. The lack of participation could put the future of the event in jeopardy.
“I think that the fun of […] being able to decorate anywhere was kind of not there this year and I think that a lot of people lost interest because of that,” freshman student government member Aidan Mills said.
Many students said that restrictions placed on where and how they could decorate contributed to the perceived lack of participation. Decorations were not allowed in the lobby of the upper school, on lockers, doorways, elevators, or outside, except on the walkway between the White Building and upper school.
Some students also said that a lack of publicizing the day contributed to low participation. The juniors and seniors had done “color wars” for a a few years and knew the gist of things, but the freshmen and sophomores were less experienced.
“I think, having been a teacher for a few years now, sometimes you can have fluke events, where if everyone forgets to announce a thing no one shows up and it’s not because there is less enthusiasm for something, it’s just if you don’t advertise no one comes,” Mr. Theos said. “Even if there is a long tradition of it you still need to get the word out.”
Still, most students showed up to school in their class colors, and the pep rally at the end of the day was full of traditional energy and rivalry.
“I would say that the participation rate was very high,” Principal Mike Nawrocki said. “It was a very healthy competition, and there was a ton of student involvement.”
As AMSA grows and changes, its celebrations and events will likely change, too — “color wars” included.
“I just think that maybe [the decorating] has kind of phased itself out,” Mr. Nawrocki said. “Maybe it needs to be reviewed. But I want the students to lead the charge on that. I’m not going to step in unnecessarily and make some grand decision without student feedback.”
