Behind the Scenes of a Great SAA Tradition-Spirit Week!

By Meryl Cochran (’25), Student Contributor

Spirit Week is a huge and long-standing tradition here at St. Agnes! It involves dressing up for theme days, watching the Prince Charming assembly, performing a St. Agnes-themed skit and song, making a banner, and most importantly, demonstrating spirit and sisterhood throughout the Upper School. Spirit Week is a time when the Upper School students can have fun, come together as a class, and showcase their talent and hard work.

The leaders of Spirit Week are the Spirit Week Coordinators. This job takes dedication! They take on many challenges to always ensure success for their class. They begin preparing very early in the school year by choosing the themes and a class “Miss Spirit”.

Usually, the themes are based on movies or tv shows. “Miss Spirit” is the main character of each closing skit that demonstrate sisterhood. Other students can help out by joining the different Spirit Week committees: script, banner, song, props, and costumes.

The script committee involves writing every single day for months until the skit practices begin. The special thing about Spirit Week skits at St. Agnes is that they take the chosen movie or show and turn everything into something about St. Agnes. The movie or show characters, for example, are made into St. Agnes teachers. Putting teachers into the skitis hilarious; it pokes fun at the usual things they say or do (with their permission, of course!) The writers include scenes that incorporate funny, memorable moments from the school year that every student will understand and laugh at. The skit is also a great way to bond the classes together. There are usually scenes that teach lessons about failure and friendship, often implying that no one is ever alone here at St. Agnes; the sisterhood is strong! When everyone from each class comes on stage, that is every single girl showing up for each other. It is so fun to show off hard work and talent with everyone!

The song committee changes lyrics from popular songs into lyrics that St. Agnes girls relate to. This job takes creativity! The songs are performed right after the class skit ends. The whole class goes to the front and sings for the alumnae judges and the crowd. Because it is the seniors’ last spirit week, there is always a song dedicated to them. The lyrics are a farewell to the memories each class has made with the seniors. It is a bittersweet moment because people usually get emotional over the beloved seniors.

The banner committee designs and paints a banner that symbolizes each class’s skit theme and traditions at St. Agnes. “The banner is the perfect way to get involved and bring your class together,” said Kate Massey, Class of 2025. The banner is not a one-man job! The committee gets together often to paint their design. The banners must include the skit title and incorporate the names of everyone from each class. Most classes include the four Dominican Pillars-Prayer, Study, Community, and Service-and feature different St. Agnes traditions. The banners always look great, flaunting the students’ amazing artistic abilities.

Once the skit is written, the prop and costume committees get creative and decide what will be worn and put on stage. The prop committee paints backgrounds, builds lockers, and finds any kind of prop that can fill up and decorate the floor. The costume committee incorporates fun into the outfits, whether it is a spring jumper or a teacher costume. The teachers in the skit are often hilariously and accurately portrayed because of the clothes they pick.

The work of all these committees and the performance of the entire class are judged on the final day of Spirit Week-Skit Day. This year all of the skits were amazing, and the banners were some of the best ever! Ultimately, The Junior Class was named the winner of Spirit Week 2024.

This tradition is by far the best one at St. Agnes and a great way for girls to express themselves. Mrs. Kelly Mungle, SDS Kindergarten teacher and a member of the SAA class of 1997 shared, “Spirit Week gave us an opportunity to show our hidden talents and qualities through the different committees, allowing us to grow as leaders and work as a team to be the best we could be!”

Because of Spirit Week, we all have an opportunity to rise as leaders and learn how to overcome obstacles. When all the hard work is done, there is no better feeling than watching your classmates come together through sisterhood on Skit Day!