By Rebecca Gorelov ’14, Staff Writer

“Newark, Newark, are you ready?” It surely seemed so the week of October 18^th, during which Newark Academy students competed against each other during the much anticipated Spirit Week.  With key changes to the week agenda made by the Student Council, Newark Academy was well prepared for the demands of Spirit Week 2010, and it showed.

Rebecca Ellis, President of the School Council, is confident that Spirit Week “surpassed the Student Council’s expectations,” even with its slightly different format.  A key change this year was the scheduling of bookend Red-Black days. This theme change was brought about by a desire to emphasize school unity, rather than grade competition, throughout the week.

There still remained many inter-grade competitions during the week.  One such competition was dressing up in costumes corresponding with grade themes.  On theme day, the Middle School dressed up as golfers, the Freshmen as Men In Black and the victorious Sophomores as cast members of a “G rated” Jersey Shore.   The Juniors, meanwhile, expanded the theme of Nick Jr. television shows whereas the Seniors, or “Senyaars,” heartily embraced their pirate theme.

Sports competitions like tug-of-war and knock out were interspersed throughout the week, as well as the much debated dodge ball tournament.  Junior Class Representative Jordan Braunstein reveals how “School Council focused on how we would prevent cheating in dodge ball and make it less competitive” and that “having more judges did not work, so from now on, limited participation in dodge ball will be the only way to ensure it will continue to be held as an event.”

The week rounded off with the class skits during the pep rally, where the Junior class’s performance on school spirit was selected as the winner.  Even with such fierce competition, Sophomore Class Representative Rachel Greene believes that the inter-grade events help to generate a feeling of community.  “Through the grade competition the [different classes] get closer,” notes Greene.  She further claims that the competitions were a way to “forget about all the stress” during the week and “just have fun.”  Freshman Class Representative Camille Kelleher agrees that “during Spirit Week the school turns into one big family.”

Spirit Week takes place every year to get the students excited about all the sports games during Homecoming and unite the school together as a single community.  According to Rebecca Ellis, “The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves,” the biggest success of all, especially with this year’s focus on school bonding.