Class of 2016 Secretary Arman Alhosseini walks in the cage during Homecoming spirit week, where decorations are stored for spirit week.
StuGo: Decorations and spirit week
StuGo manages the decoration of the school for the Sweetheart dance and for spirit week. Executive and grade level StuGo members discuss their responsibilities.
Behind the Sweetheart scenes lies an army of dedicated officers. BVNW StuGo plans and organizes the Sweetheart dance and its preceding spirit week annually.
StuGo sponsor Sarah Derks said the executive board began planning for this semester’s dance before winter break.
The themes of each spirit day and of the dance were announced today, along with the dance’s theme: “Around the World.”
Derks said StuGo executive board members brought their ideas to administration for approval prior to winter break as well.
“I try to put the onus on them to come up with ideas and then I lead them into ‘Okay, so how would we decorate for that,’” Derks said. “Trying not to squash their ideas but give
Emily Staples Senior StuGo representative Claire Albright carries a roll of paper to decorate during Homecoming spirit week.
them guidance.”
Aside from planning themes, StuGo also deals with decorations for spirit week and the dance itself, selling tickets and tallying points for the grade level spirit competition. Derks said the executive board relies on the individual grade levels’ officers and representatives to carry out those tasks.
Class of 2018 sponsor Megan Geenens said each grade level is responsible for buying their own decorations for locker areas and the main staircase during spirit week.
“I do send out an email to the sophomore class and parents listing things that we need donated,” Geenens said. “Sometimes we’ll probably go have to use and take money out of the account to buy decorations if we’re lacking in them.”
Geenens said another responsibility she takes on as a class sponsor is monitoring spirit skits each morning of spirit week.
“[I] tell them when their skits are not funny or they’re inappropriate or anything that could get them disqualified,” Geenens said. “I’m pretty much the one in the morning that watches the skit – Harms and I – we watch the skit and then we tell them what they need to improve on, what they need to take out.”
Derks said the executive board coordinates decorating the Sweetheart dance, and each grade level deals with locker area and main staircase decorations.
Executive treasurer and senior Blake Shadwick said decorating for the dance is a time when all of StuGo gets together to assemble the evening’s decorations.
“During Homecoming, we offered three different times (to decorate) and you only had to show up to two,” Shadwick said. “When the big group gets together and we have 40-plus kids in StuGo, [decorating] goes pretty fast. It’s fun, we all enjoy it, we’re all friends so it’s not a big deal.”
Shadwick said the time-intensive spirit week is a lot of work, but worth it nonetheless.
“It’s crazy but it’s fun because you get to see it all pay off, and hopefully everyone enjoys it,” Shadwick said.
Senior Olivia Baird has been a writer and reporter for one year, the opinion editor for one year and is now the online editor for BVNWnews.com. She is also involved in PEEPs and is a member of Quill and Scroll National Honor Society for High School Journalists and NHS. She is really into going out to eat at the Olive Garden, she's interested in how the Olive Garden makes such good breadsticks and a favorite of hers is the Olive Garden's breadsticks. Her favorite thing about newspaper is the cool mix of different people; she looks forward to working with every single person in newspaper every day.
Senior Emily Staples was a photographer for one year and is now the photo editor for The Express and BVNWnews.com. She is involved in NHS, Quill and Scroll National Honor Society for High School Journalists and PEEPs. She likes bath bombs and Bernie Sanders, and her favorite part of newspaper is the dance parties.
