Spirit Days that allow students to dress in various themes, such as Pajama Day, Halloween and Sports, are a popular tradition at Bronx River High School. If students can’t or don’t want to dress up for spirit day, they are expected to wear their school uniform. But last year, too many students didn’t follow the rules, leading to complaints from staff, so the Student Council ended the tradition.
“We would love to bring spirit days back,” said Concepcion Peña, advisor of the student council. “The problem with spirit days in the past is students were treating it as a dress down day. The point of spirit days is to bring the school together. So we stopped spirit days because there was a miscommunication among students,” she added.
Although the student council discontinued spirit days, they plan on bringing it back for Halloween to get feedback from students. “We hope all students participate this year,” said Ms. Peña. “We will test it out on Halloween and then we will poll students to get their input on spirit days”
Some students enjoy spirit days and want them to return. Elias Rodrigues, an 11th grader, said “I think spirit days are a fun experience, and are definitely something I look forward to returning.”
Because of the lack of participation last year, staff will be making sure students have the correct theme or uniform this year. “Teachers will be checking students at the door and sending them back for loaners,” said Tené Kelly, an assistant principal.
Students will be notified in advance before a spirit day. “We will start to make announcements prior to spirit days and hold others accountable,” Kelsey Yaboah, a member of the student council, said. “Students not wearing the theme can lead to the school not having spirit days anymore.”
Accessories will be given out to help students who couldn’t manage to match the theme. “We want to make spirit days accessible to everyone and provide accessories to match the theme, but you have to wear a white shirt. If you don’t want to wear a white shirt or match the theme then you should be in uniform,” she said.
